Much like From the Old Earth, which is also on the All the Haunts Be Ours Volume 2 box set from Severin, Gwaed Ar Y Sêr (Blood on the Stars) was produced by Bwrdd Ffilmiau Cymraeg, the Welsh Film Board. One of the first horror films in Welsh, this was another movie that was presented to children under ten years old in grade school.

Director Wil Aaron said of this effort, “The problem with Welsh films at that time was that everyone assumed they were the kind of thing that was shown in Sunday School. Did anyone consider that there might not be a little bit of sex and a little bit of fear in them?”

In a small village of Gruglon, there’s an annual concert that is always the talk of the town. This year, its been decided that celebrities like folk singer Dafydd Iwan, radio DJ Hywel Gwynfryn and rugby kicker Barry John are all set to appear. Or, well, they were until choirmaster Shadrach (Grey Evans) and his small child choir start to kill them all, one by one, their names crossed off a handwritten poster as each dies.

These kids just want to sing their holiday songs that they’ve worked on for so long and if they have to mine a football field and blow someone up real good, they’re going to do it. Look at these little angels! Listen to how they play and sing!

Without this set, I have no idea how I would have seen this. Also there’s one scene where someone is frying sausage and I am beyond hungry now.

Blood On the Stars is part of the new Severin box set, All the Haunts Be Ours Volume 2. It has extras including an introduction by musician Gruff Rhys and a cast reunion.

You can order this set from Severin.

Directed by Leonardo Favio, who wrote it with his brother Jorge Zuhair Jury, this was based on the radio show Nazareno Cruz y el lobo by Juan Carlos Chiappe.

Nazareno Cruz (Juan José Camero) is the seventh son of the now dead Jeremias, born when his mother Damiana (Elcira Olivera Garcés) wanted a son to replace the six that she lost along with her husband. Despite people thinking that he was born with the curse of lycanthropy, Nazareno grows into a happy life. Perhaps that’s because his godmother witch Lechiguana (Nora Cullen) gave him his name, which means the Nazarene Cross. Everyone in the village seems to love him and there’s been no sign of a wolf. Yet.

He’s already found true love in Griselda (Marina Magali), who stands out amongst the women due to her blonde hair. His mother and godmother try to keep him from falling in love, but once he does, he starts to transform. That’s when Mandinga (Alfredo Alcón), the devil, comes to him to promise a life of riches and never becoming a wolf. All he has to do is refuse being in love. Nazareno can’t do that and the problems begin.

One of the most successful movies ever made in Argentina, this was the official submission for the country in the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 1976 Academy Awards. In 2022, as part of the Mar del Plata International Film Festival, the magazines La vida útil, Taipei and La tierra quema selected it as the 17th best movie in the history of the country.

This is a ravishing film, one that uses the beauty of nature to its fullest. Where else will you see a dog play a werewolf or a wolf-boy discover that Satan is just misunderstood?

Nazareno Cruz and the Wolf is part of the new Severin box set, All the Haunts Be Ours Volume 2. It has extras including commentary by Adrian Garcia Bogliano, director Of Here Comes the Devil and Nicanor Loreti, director Of Punto Rojo and a short film, Love for Mother Only, as well as commentary on that short by director Dennison Ramalho.

You can order this set from Severin.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Footprints On the Moon was on Chiller Theater on Saturday, January 15, 1977 at 11:30 p.m.

Alice Cespi (Florinda Bolkan, A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin) watched a strange film in her childhood called “Footprints on the Moon,” where astronauts were stranded on the moon’s surface. Now, as an adult, the only sleep she gets is from tranquilizers and she starts missing days of her life. Get ready for a giallo that skips the fashion and outlandish murders while going straight for pure weirdness.

After losing her job as a translator, Alice find a torn postcard for a resort area called Garma. That’s where she meets a little girl named Paula (Nicoletta Elmi, Demons, A Bay of Blood) who claims that Alice looks exactly like another woman she met named Nicole, who is also at the resort. Slowly but surely, our heroine starts to believe that a huge conspiracy is against her.

This is the last theatrical film of Luigi Bazzoni (he has directed some documentaries and wrote a few films since), who also directed The Fifth Cord. There are only two murders, but don’t let that hold you back. There are also abrupt shifts in color and a slow doomy mood to the entire proceedings. It’s unlike any other giallo I’ve seen and I mean that as a compliment.

Klaus Kinski also shows up as Blackman, the doctor who was behind the experiment that Alice saw as a child. He’s only in the film for a minute or so, but he makes the most of his time, chewing up the scenery as only he can. And cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, beyond working on The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, also was the DP on films like Apocalypse Now, Reds, Last Tango in Paris and Dick Tracy.

This isn’t like any of the films that came in the wake of The Bird with the Crystal Plumage and it’s a shame that its director didn’t make more films in the genre.

Here’s are two drinks to enjoy with Footprints.

To the Moon

• .25 oz. Kaluha
• .25 oz. Bailey’s Irish Cream
• .25 oz. amaretto
• .25 oz. high proof rum

1. Stir with ice and strain into a chilled shot glass.

Footprints On the Amber Moon

• 3 oz. whiskey
• Raw egg
• Dash of Tobasco

1. Pour whiskey into a glass, then crack a raw egg and drop into the glass. Don’t break the yoke or the ghost of Klaus Kinski will haunt you.
2. Add some Tobasco, do a count down and ignite the engines.

EDITOR’S NOTE: For the last two days of Cannon Month, I’m going to cover movies that weren’t produced by Cannon but which were distributed by them on one of their various home video labels including Cannon / MGM/UA Home Video, HBO/Cannon Video, Cannon Video, Cannon / Guild Home Video, Cannon / Rank Video, Cannon Screen Entertainment Limited, Cannon Classics, Cannon / Warner Home Video, Cannon/VMP, Cannon Screen Entertainment, Scotia/Cannon, Cannon International, Cannon/ ECV, Cannon / Showtime, Cannon / United Film, Cannon / Isabod, Cannon / Mayco and so many more.

Niall Hennessy (Rod Steiger) watched his family die in a Belfast riot. There’s only one thing he can do now. Kill the Royal Family and all of Parliament. As he coldly enacts his plot, both the police and the IRA want to stop him. Steiger is great, as he plays a man who just wants to avoid “the Troubles” — even though his brother is in the IRA — but when he loses those that he loves, he loses his humanity.

John Guillermin was the original director, but he left to make The Towering Inferno. Don Sharp (Psychomania) came on and worked from a script by John Gay. Lee Remick agreed to play her supporting role as it reunited her with Steiger and Gay, as they had just worked on No Way to Treat a Lady.

This was based on a story by Richard Johnson — who played Inspector Hollis — and the movie was accused of making entertainment from terrorism. Samuel Z. Arkoff for American-International Pictures said, “We do not consider this a pro-IRA movie but we are very anxious to avoid public opinion in Britain. I think the film is brilliant. I realize the bombing campaign in Britain must have made people very bitter about the IRA. I ask people to see the film before they make up their minds.”

The British Board of Film Classification refused to classify the film as there was newsreel footage of the Queen altered to appear as if she was reacting to a bomb explosion. Arkoff added a disclaimer stating that the British Royal Family had not participated, but Odeon Cinemas refused to show it and EMI would not distribute it.

It’s wild that this movie came out during such a politically charged time and was either very brave or very exploitative.

EDITOR’S NOTE: As the journey through Cannon continues, this week we’re exploring the films of 21st Century Film Corporation, which would be the company that Menahem Golan would take over after Cannon. Formed by Tom Ward and Art Schweitzer in 1971 (or 1976, there are some disputed expert opinions), 21st Century had a great logo and released some wild stuff.

How did American audiences react to this Italian commedia sexy all’italiana?

Well, it does have Dayle Haddon in it. Today, she’s known for ads where she sells anti-aging products for L’Oréal, but at one point, she almost played Dale in Flash Gordon and was Spermula. She was also nude in the April 1973 issue of Playboy, as the American poster reminds us.

For Italian film lovers, this is where singer Carmen Villani first started her sex comedy roles. She’s in this with Carlo Giuffré, Gisela Hahn (Mr. Scarface) and Gloria Piedimonte, who released the space disco song “Ping Pong Space.”

If you look carefully at the students, you’ll see Ilona Staller, who would soon become Cicciolina.

Replacing a science teacher who has died of a heart attack, the young and provocative substitute teacher Loredana Cataluzzi (Villani) has arrived to make every boy in the school instantly complete puberty. One of her students, Stefano Baldesi (Eligio Zamara), wants her so bad that he becomes a fool any time he’s near her. Her sister Sonia (Haddon) feels badly for the boy, so she gives herself freely to him. This angers Loredana, who misses the affections of Stefano.

Director Guido Leoni wrote the dialogue for Death Walks At Midnight and Four Times That Night. This was nearly charged with obscenity, as Roman officials wanted the director, producers and actors to go to jail for 2 months. As late as 1985, nearly four minutes of footage was cut — ten years after it first was released.

If you haven’t seen an Italian sex comedy, well, it has men losing their minds just looking at the women. You may or may not enjoy it. Think Porky’s with a bigger budget and more Eurosleaze women, which is a compliment. There’s also a sequel, La supplente va in città.

This was released by 21st Century as Substitute Teacher.

EDITOR’S NOTE: As the journey through Cannon continues, this week we’re exploring the films of 21st Century Film Corporation, which would be the company that Menahem Golan would take over after Cannon. Formed by Tom Ward and Art Schweitzer in 1971 (or 1976, there are some disputed expert opinions), 21st Century had a great logo and released some wild stuff.

Born and raised in Fort Smith, Arkansas and making his living in Akron, Ohio and Milwaukee, Wisconsin as a preacher and dancer named Prince DuMarr before joining the Army and performing as the Harlem Hillbilly, Rudolph Frank Moore recorded R&B albums before becoming a party album pioneer and later found himself working at Dolphin’s of Hollywood record store.

That’s where owner John Dolphin created the center of R&B in the 40s and 50s, presenting live DJs and shows while customers shopped. The store hot its name because Hollywood wouldn’t allow blacks to own or operate any business in Hollywood, so this was Dolphin’s way of bringing the city to South Central Los Angeles, saying “If blacks can’t go to Hollywood, I’ll bring Hollywood to blacks.”

While working there, Moore met a unhoused person named Rico who would do toasts, or tell tall tales, for money to buy food. People loved his stories about Dolemite and eventually, Moore — who had already been doing stand-up and recorded his party albums, paid Rico in weed and wine to allow him to record and use his stories.

By the 70s, Moore was recording albums like Eat Out More Often, This Pussy Belongs To Me and The Dirty Dozens in his apartment and selling them out of his car and under the counter at record stores. These albums became famous with no airplane and just word of mouth in the black community.

At the age of 47, Moore took the money he made from those party records and decided to make his own movie, despite never having made a film before.

Willie Green (D’Urville Martin, who also directed this movie), Detectives Mitchell (John Kerry) and Mayor Daley (Hy Pyke) have all worked together to send Dolemite (Moore) to prison for twenty years. Fellow pimp Queen Bee (Lady Reed) works for what seems like years to free Dolemite with the hopes he can stop all the drugs coming into the city. The odds are against him, but how many pimps have an army of martial arts sex workers at their command? Or a militant preacher named Reverend Gibbs (West Gale) supplying him with weapons and an F.B.I. agent (Jerry Jones) supporting him under cloak and dagger

This movie is beyond amazing, as Moore is just a force. Cinematographer Nicholas Josef von Sternberg had to be covered with a sound blanket during shooting because he couldn’t stop laughing. I can’t even imagine being on set. It took seventeen 18 hours days to make this movie, but it’s worth it. Sure, it’s rough, but it feels real.

“Way down in the jungle deep, the lion stepped on the signified monkey’s feet. The monkey said, “Motherfucker, can’t you see? You’re standing on my goddamn feet?” The monkey lived in a jungle in an old oak tree, bullshittin’ a lion every day of the week.”

Anyone that refers to this movie as cheap, boring, amateur, crude or stupid needs to get fucked up. I judge people based on how they feel about Dolemite.

You can watch this on Tubi.