Dr. Death (John Considine) is a thousand-year-old magician who can transfer souls from one body to another. He keeps himself alive by jumping from one body to the next and oh yeah — he has acid blood. I mean, sure, I’m down with that.

Sadly, this never got a sequel, as that was the plan. The main story is about Fred Saunders (Barry Coe), whose wife has just died and promised to return from the other side. After finding that spiritualist after spiritualist are all carny liars, he meets Doctor Death who really can bring the dead back from the grave. Of course, he’s also an absolute maniac.

One of the film’s financiers was Barry Gordy, who got to direct a scene. It’s also the last screen appearance of Moe Howard and has horror host Larry “Seymour” Vincent as a killer.

Consider this a 1973 TV movie that played theaters and drive-ins. It’s low budget, but groovy as it gets. I want to live in the world of this movie so badly. I really wish they’d made ten of these movies. “Enter that body!” says Doctor Death. Sure, whatever you want.

The Kino Lorber blu ray release of Doctor Death has commentary by John Considine, who also contributed an intro and an interview. It also has an interview with the director’s son Steve Saeta and a trailer. You can get it from Kino Lorber.

Le Monache di Sant’Arcangel, Sisters of Satan and The Nuns of Saint Archangel are the other names for this film by Domenico Paolella who started his career all the way back in 1939 and also directed Stunt Squad, Women of Devil’s Island and Story of a Cloistered Nun.

Based on authentic 16th Century records and a story by Stendhal — sure, whatever you say — this film really hits all the expected sleazy beats of nunsploitation but it invented it, coming early in the cycle that really got going between The Lady of Monza and The Devils.

The Sant Arcangelo Convent is where Sister Julia (former Miss Great Britain Anne Heywood, who was also in The Fox and The Killer Is on the Phone) is doing everything she can to become Mother Superior.  This all happens as the nuns may take on celibate vows yet make love to one another and invite men inside the walls of their holy place. Of course, this just means that we get a square up reel after holy men come in and torture these sinning women, all before Julai is forced to drink poison.

Shot in a real convent — Fossanova Abbey in Priverno, Latina — that has to be a Jess Franco-like trick, as somehow they were never told exactly the movie that was getting made. I can’t even imagine the condemnation that followed.

Look, I don’t want to be some kind of drooling leering fanboy, but if you make a movie with Ornella Muti as a nun, well…it’s going to be something I’m going to watch.

Twilight Time’s new release of The Nun and the Devil has an audio commentary with critic Kim Newman and Italian cinema expert Barry Forshaw, interviews with Luc Merenda and Martine Brochard, a profile of Domenico Paolella, a nunsploitation interview with Marcus Stiglegger and a trailer. You can get it from MVD.

EDITOR’S NOTE: You can watch this movie this weekend at the Drive-In Super Monster-Rama! Get more info at the official Drive-In Super Monster-Rama Facebook page and get your tickets at the Riverside Drive-In’s webpage.

The Wicker Man begins with Christopher Lee, a Hammer star, talking to writer Anthony Shaffer about more interesting roles. Shaffer had read the David Pinner novel Ritual — which had first been written as a script for Michael Winner, and I can’t even imagine what he would have done — and turned that inspiration into his own story.

Shaffer’s vision for the film was unique. The story delves into the intersection of modern religion and ancient pagan practices. It departs from the typical blood and gore of horror, opting instead for a creeping, unknown terror that lurks in the shadows. This unique approach is what we now refer to as folk horror.

The Wicker Man stands at the crossroads of art and horror, somewhere between movies like Performance and The Devil Rides Out, but with a twist, as the traditional rules of horror no longer apply. The concepts of good and evil, as defined by Judeo-Christian beliefs, are absent in this story. Instead, it’s a journey into the unknown, exploring ancient ways that have existed long before the modern era.

Christian Sergeant Neil Howie (Edward Woodward) is initially presented as the virtuous hero. He is on the island of Summerisle investigating Rowan Morrison’s disappearance, yet the villagers refuse to admit that she ever existed.

He’s shocked at these people’s ways, which include putting frogs in their mouths to cure illness and dancing around phallic maypoles. He finds images of past May Queens. He meets Lord Summerisle (Lee), who leads this village. And he sees the answers that he seeks, despite perhaps not liking them.

There’s also tempted by Willow MacGregor (Britt Ekland, who was three months pregnant; she was dubbed by Annie Ross, and her body double was dancer Rachel Verney), and there’s a scene where she dances with a wall between her and Howie that is volcanic. It has no nudity, but it’s filled with sensual energy.

Director Robin Hardy also made The Fantasist and The Wicker Tree, a very loose sequel to the original movie. Hardy first published the sequel as a novel, Cowboys for Christ, about American Christian evangelists who travel to Scotland and end up in a similar situation. Lee plays the Old Gentleman, who is either Summerisle or not.

Shaffer also wrote The Loathsome Lambton Worm, a direct sequel that begins immediately after the ending of The Wicker Man. In it, Howie is saved by his fellow police officers. The movie features a fire-breathing dragon and is much more fantastic than the first one.

Directed and written by Vittorio Schiraldi (who also wrote Watch Me When I Kill), this was based on a novel that Schiraldi wrote.

Stefano (Joshua Sinclair), the son of Don Angelino Ferrante (Arthur Kennedy) has been shot in the back by the brutal Gaspare Ardizzone (John Saxon) — who is the start of a more violent and ruthless breed of criminal — for refusing to sell him land. Ferrante sends for a killer from America hoping for revenge.

The death of Stefano leaves behind a widow, Mariuccia (Agostina Belli), who is both protected and impregnated by a bodyguard named Massimo (Pino Colizzi). Meanwhile, Ardizzone goes to America and starts wiping out the New York bosses too and Don Ferrante still refuses to put a hit on him. Will his family and way of life survive?

Pretty much The Godfather with a different cast and some subtle changes, Family Killer still boasts an amazing Saxon performance as a total psychopath.

On D-Day, a mixed group of forced labourers being held by German forces take shelter from the bombardment inside a bunker which gets blocked in by a bombing run. They have enough food to last for years and it turns out that they’re trapped there for the rest of their lives, as they wait and wait for help that never comes.

Based on Le Blockhaus by Jean-Paul Clébert, this was directed by Clive Rees, who co-wrote the script with John Gould. That book was based on a true story, as in 1951, two German soldiers claimed to have been trapped for six years in an underground storehouse in Babie Doły, Poland. They died within days of being rescued.

Aufret (Peter Vaughan), their leader in the world above, before they were trapped in this storehouse and inside the darkness, loses his power over the men and isolates himself while the others, like Visconti (Charles Aznavour) and Grabinski (Jeremy Kemp) try to play games and keep their spirits up. By the end, the survivors dwindle — Rouquet (Peter Sellers) and Lund  (Per Oscarsson) are the others — and even their matches and candles have started to run out. All that remains is a life trapped in a small space and no light will find them again.

This is a rough movie — not a bad one, but a bleak entry — and also one that should be discussed more.

You can watch this on Tubi.

The UK movie Secrets of a Door-to-Door Salesman was released in the U.S. by Cannon as Naughty Wives, which is definitely a dirtier if not better label for this.

David Clyde (Brendan Price, who was also in the British sex comedy The Amorous Milkman) gets a job as a vacuum salesman and soon finds that he’s being chased by women.

Director Wolf Rilla is best known for Village of the Damned while writers Joseph McGrath shot some of the first music videos with The Beatles and Denis Norden wrote a lot for David Frost.

This is pretty much true to form for most British sex comedies — a funny line here and there, some nudity there. Today it seems quaint but I’m sure in 1973 pulses raced.

Man zhou ren was released as The Godfathers of Hong Kong in the U.S. by Cannon.

According to the Lost Media Wiki, the Cannon English dub of the film is just about lost. The only known home video release with English audio was a heavily abridged 8mm print release by Ken Films. It’s on YouTube courtesy of Kerrie O’Keefe.

Kin Jin Pai plays a detective and wanderer called Man Tshu who comes into a town and challenges the crime family that owns it, burning their opium and taking away one of their prostitute wives as his love interest.

It was directed by Katy Chin Shu-mei — her only film and it’s rare to see a Hong Kong martial arts movie from a woman — and a young John Woo was the assistant director.

The end of this film gets incredibly intense and quite violent, which is why Cannon supposedly picked it up.

You can watch this on YouTube.

Are you ready to get your guts kicked out?

With those words, Cannon would release the Wing Cho-Yip film Yi wang da shu. Released in Germany as Der gelbe Teufel mit dem Superschlag (The Yellow Devil with the Super Punch), this is the story of Wong Kai Tai, a man looking to free his hometown of Wantchao from the Gang of Dragons and the three brothers Chun Tsi, Shing and Wang.

Despite his friendship with kung fu fighter Chi Sien (Chin-kun Li), Wong Kai Tai refuses to ask for help and pays the ultimate price, which means that now Chi Sen has to take up his battle. It’s not the most mindblowing martial arts movie you’ve ever seen, but hey, Bolo Yeung is in it and that’s always a good time.

But man — how good is that tagline? And who does want to get their guys kicked out?