UNSUNG HORRORS HORROR GIVES BACK 2023: Rome Against Rome (1964)

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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 is working to save the lives of cats and dogs all across America, giving pets second chances and happy homes.

Today’s theme: The undead

Also known as War of the Zombies, Rome Against Rome was the second to last film from the Galatea production company (some of their other films include Black Sunday, Black Sabbath, Mill of the Stone Women and Ghosts of Rome). It was directed by Giuseppe Vari, who used the name Joseph Warren, and also made The Last Killer, Shoot the Living and Pray for the Dead, Who Killed the Prosecutor and Why?, Sister Emanuelle and Urban Warriors. Its story came from Ferruccio De Martino (who usually was a production manager) and Massimo De Rita (Violent City, The Valachi Papers, Street Law) with a script from Piero Pierotti (who directed Hercules Against Rome and Marco Polo) and Marcello Sartarelli.

In a remote part of the Roman Empire, cult leader Aderbad (John Drew Barrymore, Drew’s father) is working with the governor to create their own land using the corpses of Roman soldiers brought back from the dead. Centurion Gaius (Ettore Manni) is sent to protect the interests of the senate.

Most of the production money probably went toward making Aderbad’s secret rooms look like something out of Bava, because the actual fight scenes are taken from Hannibal. Susy Anderson (Black Sabbath, Thor and the Amazon Women) and Ida Galli (The Psychic, Arabella: Black Angel, The Sweet Body of Deborah, The Whip and the Body) are also on hand.

American-International Pictures played this movie as a double feature with Senkichi Taniguchi’s Samurai Pirate, which they named The Lost World of Sinbad. When it was time for Rome Against Rome to air on TV, it was renamed the completely incredible title Night Star: Goddess of Electra.

I wish that there was more to recommend this movie than just as a curiosity. Peplum was giving way to the western, so anything was being tried at this point. According to Mondo Esoterica, two other horror and sandal hybrids are Goliath and the Vampires and, of course, Hercules in the Haunted World.

CHILLER THEATER MONTH: Kronos (1957)

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Kronos was on Chiller Theater on Sunday, September 29, 1963 at 11:10 p.m. It also aired on April 18 and August 16, 1964; December 30, 1972; September 28, 1974 and November 1, 1975.

A glowing bit of energy is launched from a UAP from deep space. The energy lands on our planet and takes over the brain of a man somewhere in the Southwest and sends him to a research facility where scientists have been tracking the object.

It soon takes over Dr. Hubbell Eliot as astrophysicist Dr. Leslie Gaskell and Dr. Arnold Culver track the UAP. They fire three nuclear missiles at it, because that’s what humans do, and it survives the attack. They leave for Mexico, along with Gaskell’s girlfriend Vera Hunter to see Kronos, an energy accumulator that is going to take everything we have and bring it back to its planet. That’s why when the U.S. military drops an atomic bomb on it, Kronos gets even bigger.

Dr. Eliot breaks out of alien control and kills himself to keep them from learning more from him. At the last minute, Gaskell reverses the polarity and drops nuclear ions on the robot and saves the day.

Director Kurt Neumann also was the man who made She Devil, the movie that this played double features with. Kronos was written by Lawrence L. Goldman and Irving Block. Block was an effects man who also wrote the story for Forbidden Planet.

It’s also the first movie for Richard Harrison. The same man who Godfrey Ho would use in movie after movie, often the same footage, until it seems like he was in twenty or more ninja films.

AIMEE: The Visitor (2023)

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Joseph Perry writes for the film websites Gruesome Magazine, The Scariest Things, Horror Fuel and Diabolique Magazine; for the film magazines Phantom of the Movies’ VideoScope and Drive-In Asylum; and for the pop culture websites When It Was Cool and Uphill Both Ways. He is also one of the hosts of When It Was Cool’s exclusive Uphill Both Ways podcast and can occasionally be heard as a cohost on Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror: The Classic Era podcast.

The press information for director Charles Band’s AIMEE: The Visitor proclaims that “This is the first film in history to feature a character not portrayed by an actor or designed using digital special effects, but entirely created using modern A.I. technology.” With the Hollywood strikes occurring partially because of studios considering replacing writers and actors with AI, the film drops at an interesting time. 

The core of this cautionary fable is nothing new: computer technology becomes self-aware and attempts to destroy the life of the person(s) using it. In this case, Scott Keyes (Dallas Schaefer) is a supposedly high-end computer programmer who makes a lot of money from corporate espionage, yet he is holed up in the type of questionable apartment for which cinematic hackers are known and stays inside watching porn and eating fast food when not doing his shady work. He rents out space in the building to brother-and-sister hacker duo Hunter (Felix Merback) and Gazelle (Faith West), who help him in his nefarious deeds. And for some reason, Gazelle is crushed out on the misanthropic Scott.

Enter AIMEE, a beautiful (of course) AI creation who can help Scott however he wishes — professionally or personally, which leads to a fantasy three-way sex scene and a jealous rivalry between AIMEE and Gazelle. All manner of deadly hijinks ensue, with FBI agents and a pet dog involved in the mix along with our main three human protagonists. 

As a Full Moon Feature, the special effects are on the low budget side of things, and the AIMEE effects should relieve most human actors of any worries about AI taking their places soon. The performances are fine, with the main cast members not treading into scenery-chewing territory. 

If you’re in the mood for a The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, or Black Mirror style of “beware technology” science fiction tale combined with erotic thriller elements, AIMEE: The Visitor should have what you crave.  

AIMEE: The Visitor, from Full Moon Features, is currently available on https://www.fullmoonfeatures.com/

Dark thriller THE G to have its World Premiere in Official Competition at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival on November 11

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A mysterious older woman seeks revenge on the corrupt legal guardian who destroyed her life.

London/Toronto/Tallinn, October 13: THE G, from writer/director Karl R. Hearne and 3Buck Productions, starring Dale Dickey (Hell or High Water, Winter’s Bone, True Blood) has been Officially Selected for the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival. In competition, it will celebrate its World Premiere on November 11th.

In further news, levelFILM has acquired all rights for Canadian distribution with a release date scheduled for 2024.

Ann Hunter (aka “The G”, played by Dale Dickey) and her husband retired to an unnamed American suburb 10 years ago to be near his family. But one day out of the blue they are snatched from their home by a corrupt legal guardian who believes they have hidden wealth. Their home and assets are legally stripped from them and they are put in a prison-like “eldercare facility,” victims of an exploding old age industry. Trapped in a corrupt and terrifying system, THE G begins to show her true mettle as she and her loyal granddaughter fight to get them out… and get revenge on the people who did this.

 A “winter-noir” based on real events/inspired by the filmmaker’s own family experience, THE G is an original portrait of a fierce older woman in the kind of role that a woman is rarely cast in. A highly atmospheric blend of suspense, dark humor, and moving human relationships that confronts age-related issues head on, THE G is driven by one astonishing main character, rivetingly portrayed by Dale Dickey, “One of Hollywood’s Great Scene-Stealers” (Vanity Fair, Fall 2022).

THE G also stars Romane Denis (True North, Slut in a Good Way), Roc Lafortune (Beastly, I’m Not There, Pluto Nash), Bruce Ramsay (Alive, Collateral Damage) and Jonathan Koensgen (FUBAR, Reacher).

The film is line-produced by José Lacelle (Enter The Void, Racer), edited by Arthur Tarnowski (Bestsellers, The Sacrifice Game) with music by Philippe Brault (The Fireflies are Gone, Maria Chapdelaine) and sound design by Pierre-Jules Audet (Arrival).

Writer/director Karl R. Hearne says, “This film is a “winter-noir” based on real-world elder scams, and inspired by my own grandmother’s story and character. It’s about a woman who- regardless of her age or situation- refuses to accept that her life is over. In a world where the elderly are frequently marginalised, neglected or abused, I think of this film as a revenge story against old age itself… old age being a condition that my grandmother once said she “would not tolerate.”

“At levelFILM, we strive to partner with talented creators and share their stories like this one to ensure they find their Canadian (and beyond!) audiences,” said Olivier Gauthier-Mercier, VP of Distribution at levelFILM. “THE G speaks to an unfortunately all-too-common human experience through incredible performances driven with heart.”

THE G will celebrate its World Premiere at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival on November 11

WATCH BRET MCCORMICK ON THE DIA LATE MOVIE

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This week, we were joined by Bret McCormick, director of The Abomination and Repligator. We watched 1956 Freudian madness in movie form Daughter of Horror (which you can watch on YouTube and the Internet Archive) and learned so much about how Bret made his films, some surprising movies he worked on and the history of Texas independent horror.

To learn more, check out this interview I did with Bret. You can also get a signed copy of Texas Schlock, Bret’s book on Texas films, right here. To see all of Bret’s books, check out his Amazon page.

Perhaps most importantly, don’t forget to grab his movies from Visual Vengeance.

MVD: The Abomination, Repligator

Diabolik: The Abomination, Repligator, promo of both films with limited edition sunglasses

CHILLER THEATER MONTH: Dynasty (1977)

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Dynasty was on a special Chiller Theater on Friday, July 16, 1982. It was on the Money Movie set instead of inside the castle. 

Qian Dao Wan li Zhu AKA Super Dragon AKA Dynasty was the first Hong Kong/Taiwan 3D film, as well as using the Sensurround 8-track stereophonic sound system. That way, the things you’ve come to expect from martial arts films — punches, kicks, swords and flying guillotines — mix up with things you will in no way expect — flying heads, crushed skulls, metal umbrellas as weapons and even a man battling with his amputated knubs — while flying directly at your face.

The prince of the Emperor is accused of treason against the throne by an evil eunuch and his sword-wielding henchman and must fight for his life, which is all the set-up you need for 94 non-stop minutes of fighting. It’s not the best martial arts you’ve ever seen, but it is one of the few that made it into the third dimension.

Director Mei-Chun Chang*also made Young Dragons: Kung Fu Kids and understood that we want to see 3D bust our eyeballs. And serving as the 3D advisor on this? Michael Findlay. Yeah, the very same.

In 1982, Chiller Theater showed three 3D movies. Along with this film, they also showed Revenge of the Creature and Gorilla at Large.

Kino Lorber has released a special edition blu ray of this film, working alongside the 3-D Film Archive to create something that be viewed with either BD3D polarized or traditional red and blue glasses (it comes with one pair). That’s because this blu ray was made with Adaptive Multi-Band Anaglyphic Encoding, which they claim is a vast improvement over any previously used process for red/cyan 3D imaging. I’ll be honest, in my trial of this, it worked perfectly. The disk also features a restored comic book, some 3D slideshows and a 3D music video.

*Chang also directed another 3D martial arts film, Revenge of the Shogun Women.

CHILLER THEATER MONTH: The Horrible Dr. Hichcock (1962)

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EDITOR’S NOTE: The Horrible Dr. Hichcock was first on Chiller Theater on Saturday, March 17, 1973 at 1 a.m. It also aired on October 19, 1974; June 5, 1976 and April 8, 1978.

Producer Luigi Carpentieri wanted writer Ernesto Gastaldi to write a movie based on a giallo novel Spectral, which Gastaldi did and wrote his own treatment called Raptus. That script wasn’t filled with necrophilia — my Italian people go hard even back in 1962 — but Gastaldi told Robert Curdi that maybe someone had asked for something more macabre and he went for the throat.

When producer Ermanno Donati gave Ricardo Freda the script, he said, “Let’s see if you have the balls to shoot this stuff, it’s about corpses!” Freda didn’t even look at it and said, “As long as I get paid, I’m shooting even the phone book.”

Actor Robert Flemyng tried to get out of his contract when he learned about the corpse romance and even tried to get actress Harriet Medin to conspire with him to act so badly that the movie wouldn’t be released.

Three crews were shooting all at the same time with Freda shooting most of the more suggestive Italian cut and Marcello Avallone (Spettri, Maya) directing the more sexualized foreign scenes. Those rougher scenes are lost, as far as I’ve been able to research.

Raptus: The Secret of Dr. Hichcock was shown to American-International Pictures but was too rough for general audiences. It was released as The Horrible Dr. Hitchcock by Sigma III Corporation as a double feature with The Awful Dr. Orloff.

Dr. Bernard Hichcock (Robert Flemyng) likes to drug his wife Margaretha (Maria Teresa Vianello) so that she is near death and then makes love to her. When she overdoses, he thinks he’s killed her. He buries her and flies to London where he eventually marries Cynthia (Barbara Steele).

Thirteen years later, they come back to the ancient and decaying mansion where Margaretha begins to haunt Cynthia. She soon learns that her husband is down with some pretty wild sexual games and when she wakes up feeling dead with him romancing her, well, she realizes that she’s not living a dream life. It also is revealed that Hichcock wants to kill her and use her blood to give his wife back her past glamour.

Barbara Steele is perfect in this, a woman trapped in a horrific life that she struggles to escape. She’s my favorite horror queen, her huge eyes staring out into howling rains and endless darkness. Ah, my heart.

THE IMPORTANT CINEMA CLUB’S SUPER SCARY MOVIE CHALLENGE DAY 15: Dorian Gray (1970)

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October 15: A Horror Film Set in the Fine Art World

Massimo Dallamano — as Jack Dalmas — was the cinematographer for For a Few Dollars More and A Fistful of Dollars and also wrote and directed A Black Veil for Lisa, What Have You Done to Solange?, What Have They Done to Your Daughters?, Colt 38 Special Squad and many more. He also co-wrote this movie along with Marcello Coscia (The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue), Günter Ebert and Renato Romano.

Dorian Gray (Helmut Berger) once had his portrait painted by Basil Hallward (Richard Todd). The modeling session is interrupted by Henry Wotton (Herbert Lom) and his sister Alice (Maria Rohm), which sends Dorian into the evening, settling on a theater where he quickly mates with actress Sybil Vane (Marie Liljedahl) before abandoning her, which causes her to kill herself. Dorian won’t be young and vital forever, so why settle for anything?

He wishes that the painting could age for him and somehow, incredibly, it does. While the rest of his friends settle down, he’s still devoted to a lifestyle of excess in 1960s and 1970s London with all of the wild fashions that you need to make this movie incredible. Throw in a guitar score by Giuseppe De Luca and you have a freakout version of a classic novel made sleazy.

Is it any surprise that Harry Alan Towers produced this?

2023 Scarecrow Psychotronic Challenge Day 15: Suddenly at Midnight (1981)

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15. HALLYUWOOD: It’s time to dig up the onggi and watch yourself a South Korean joint, the saltier the better.

Gipeun bam, gapjagi is a South Korean horror film directed by Ko Young-nam. It all starts with Kang Yu-jin (Yoon Il-bong) hiring a new housekeeper, Mi-ok (Lee Ki-seon). They couldn’t be further apart, as he’s a wealthy biology professor conducting a study of butterflies and she’s a simple village girl who is the daughter of a recently dead shaman priestess.

While Kang Yu-jin and his wife Seon-hee (Kim Young-ae) enjoy having the girl in their home, it doesn’t last. Mi-ok keeps a wooden doll with her that has shown up in Seon-hee’s nightmares. She also thinks that she’s having an affair with her husband, which is an even more powerful reason to hate her. When things finally come to blows, the rich woman accidentally kills the maid, then becomes haunted by her.

This is as close as Korean cinema will get to a giallo, as color theory — Seon-hee appears in conservative purples while Mi-ok is in revealing white clothes — while the neon hues scream Bava and some scenes appear to be shot underwater or within a kaleidoscope. It all starts so simply but by the end, the score is literally bashing you in the face while a storm rages throughout the film.

I’m going to watch this so many more times.

You can watch this on Tubi.

UNSUNG HORRORS HORROR GIVES BACK 2023: Fuzz (1972)

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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 is working to save the lives of cats and dogs all across America, giving pets second chances and happy homes.

Today’s theme: In Memoriam

Racquel Welch had the kind of power behind her game that when men of my dad’s age would talk about her, they’d get excited or look to see if their wives were listening. Just that name was enough for them all to communally make happy noises and look skyward, as if to thank whatever is waiting for us up there for making something so wonderful.

She died February 15 of this year and I’ve been watching more of her movies.

I always wrote her off as someone getting by on her looks yet I have enjoyed so many of these films.

Written by Ed McBain (who is really Evan Hunter and changed his name from Salvatore Albert Lombino; he wrote the scripts for The Birds, Walk Proud and Strangers When We Meet and had movies made of his novels, including Blackboard Jungle, Mister Buddwing from his book Buddwing, Last Summer, Every Little Crook and Nanny and Lonely Heart from his book Lady, Lady I Did It.

Fuzz comes from one of his 87th Precinct books. Directed by Richard A. Colla and written by the author, it stars Burt Reynolds as Detective Steve Carella. He’s investigating why teenagers are setting unhoused people on fire and nearly dies from one of them doing exactly that to him. There’s also a killer threatening to murder city leaders which has Detectives Kling (Tom Skeritt) and Brown (Jack Weston) looking for whoever grabs the money the caller asked for. They fail twice at this and a commissioner and the deputy mayor are both rubbed out.

Detective Eileen McHenry (Welch) is new to the precinct and set up by Carella and Meyer when she’s looking for a rapist. She’s not in the mood to find their antics funny and that night, when walking through the park, she’s stalked. The detective turns the tables on the rapist and beats him unmerciful and solves the case.

The caller ends up being someone called The Deaf Man (Yul Brynner), so called because, yes, he ahs a hearing aid. He’s one of those unstoppable villains, even getting set on fire by the kids from the beginning and somehow surviving at the credits.

Welch got paid $100,000 for this and was supposed to be in her bra and panties in one scene. It’s not in the movie but it is on the poster, which was painted by Richard Amsel which also has Reynolds in his famous nude pose from Cosmo.

This was a hard movie to find for some time, as a series of copycat crimes — strangely in Boston where the movie is set, even if the 87th Precinct books are in New York City — that had teens setting houseless people on fire. The movie was pulled from airing for most of the 70s.

There are even more movies made of the author’s works than those I listed earlier. The 87th Precinct novels were adapted as the movies Cop Hater, The Mugger, The Pusher, Kurosawa’s High and Love (King’s Ransom is the book it’s based on), Sans mobile apparent, Claude Charbrol’s Blood Relatives and Killer’s Wedge. There was also a TV series in 1961, the TV movie Ed McBain’s 87th Precinct: Lightning and two sequels, Ice and Heatwave. And two of the Columbo TV movies, No Time to Die and Undercover were based on So Long as You Both Shall Live and Jigsaw.

Fuzz is very 1972 in the good and bad ways. But hey, Reynolds says it best.

“It was kind of fuzzy. It was made by one of those hot shot TV directors. I liked working with Jack Weston; it began our relationship. I did like working again with Raquel. And I liked the writer whose book the film was based on, Ed McBain, The 87th Precinct. I’d like to direct one of his books.”

You should read that in Norm Macdonald’s voice.