Tag Archives: 1977

BASTARD PUPS OF JAWS: Tentacles (1977)

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Somehow, Ovidio Assonitis (Beyond the Door, Madhouse, The Visitor) must have had pictures of people in Hollywood in very compromising positions. How else could he have gotten Hollywood royalty like Henry Fonda, Shelley Winters and John Huston to appear in a movie about a giant killer octopus?

Want to know how far Assonitis went to rip off Jaws? The trailer to this movie is narrated by Percy Rodrigues, who also voiced over the trailers to every single Jaws film.

You know how it goes: Solana Beach is a tourist town that’s facing off with a giant octopus that likes to eat people the whole way down to the bone. That’s because Mr. Whitehead’s (Fonda) Trojan company has built an illegal underwater tunnel that’s using radio signals that are too loud, driving the octopus insane.

Luckily, marine expert Will Gleason (Bo Hopkins, Midnight Express) and newspaper reporter Ned Turner (Huston) are on the job, tracking down the beast and setting a pair of killer whales named Summer and Winter loose on it. By the way — for this scene, that’s a real octopus — a dead one from a fish market — getting torn up. Oh you wacky Italians and your disregard for life!

Also: there’s a long sequence where Hopkins talks to his killer whales about how people treated him as a killer and how he loves them so much more than any human being he has ever met before he asks them to understand why they have to kill the octopus. It’s totally ADR and beyond ridiculous and made me love this movie 200,000 times more than I thought were possible.

Along the way, you’ll meet the gorgeous Delia Boccardo, Italian comedian Franco Diogene and the always welcome Claude Atkins as, you guessed it, a sheriff.

Moving things quickly — no matter how plodding the film gets — is a great soundtrack by Stelvio Cipriani, who is something of a Jaws ripoff music maestro, considering he also scored The Bermuda Triangle, Encounters in the Deep, Night of the Sharks, The Great Alligator and Piranha II: The Spawning.

The best thing about this movie is that it doesn’t care at all about having a plot of a central character that you can follow. Major characters just disappear. Shelley Winters doesn’t even have to be in this movie. And Assonitis seems like he’d rather be making a drama or art film than one with a giant rubber octopus, which makes this even more awesome than it should be.

Want to see it for yourself? Shout! Factory has you covered.

Moonshine County Express (1977)

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The Hammer Sisters are the kind of tough Southern girls that deal with their daddy’s murder by taking over his moonshine business, grabbing some weapons and being way tougher than any of the men they battle. Is that enough to get you to watch this movie?

What if I told you that it was directed by the same man who brought us The Evil, The Side Hackers and the movie based on the song Take This Job and Shove It?

Not yet? How does John Saxon playing a Southern stock car racer and moonshine runner sound? Not yet?

How about Susan Howard, former Dallas actress turned 700 Club host and NRA supporter?

William Conrad? Jeff Corey? Len “Uncle Leo” Lasser? Maurine “Marcia Brady” McCormick? Still not sold?

I get it. John Saxon was enough for me. But then I thought, I bet this movie has Claudia Jennings in it. And I was right. And that’s all it took.

What was it about American pop culture that took hicksploitation from the drive-in to the mainstream? I remember it myself — everyone had a CB radio, we all turned in to The Dukes of Hazzard and watched Smokey and the Bandit on HBO. Heck, I even had a silver NASCAR jacket that made me look like a 5-year-old pit crew member.

From the very first moment that John Saxon appears on screen and does his best version of a Southern accent, I was thoroughly entertained by this silly trifle of a film. It’s a Roger Corman 1970’s drive-in movie, so you’re going to get plenty of cars getting smashed up, scummy bad guys and “100 proof women” like Candice Rialson (Chatterbox, Pets).

You can grab this on blu ray from Code Red or watch it on Amazon Prime.

LOST TV WEEK: Dead of Night (1977)

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Much like Trilogy of Terror, Dead of Night is made up of tales written by Richard Matheson (the first segment is based on a Jack Finney story) in a portmanteau format. Originally airing on March 29, 1977, this TV movie is not as well remembered.

There are three stories: “Second Chance,” where Ed Begley Jr. buys a car and goes backward in time; “No Such Thing as a Vampire,” which has The Avengers‘ Patrick Macnee as a doctor trying to deal with an undead man who keeps attacking his wife; and finally “Bobby,” which is all about a mother trying to figure out how to deal with the loss of her son (played by Ben‘s Lee Montgomery).

Of these tales, only “Bobby” is actually scary. Trilogy of Terror is much better overall, but that’s not to say that you won’t find some enjoyment watching this. Dark Sky put this out on DVD in 2009 and included the pilot, “A Darkness At Blaisedon,” for a TV series version that Curtis tried to sell in 1969.  The same music from that pilot was used when this movie was finally filmed.

There was also a British anthology series with the same name that aired in 1972, with seven episodes filmed and only three that still exist.

You can also watch Dead of Night on Shudder.

LOST TV WEEK: The Possessed (1977)

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Originally airing on May 7, 1977, The Possessed is the kind of movie where you say, “This would be a good series.” That’s because it’s a back door pilot for a show that never happened. I really wish that it would have.

Kevin Leahy (James Farentino) is a Catholic priest who has fallen from his faith. He drunkenly smashes his car and dies, but God sends him back to our world to stop evil.

That divine mission brings him to the Helen Page School, where Ellen Sumner (Claudette Nevins, All the Marbles, Tuff Turf) is having issues dealing with her daughter Weezie (Ann Dusenberry, Jaws 2) and sister Louise, but soon has an even bigger problem — people and objects like her typewriter are suddenly bursting into flames.

The other schoolgirls play a prank on Weezie and are reprimanded, but soon, the curtains in Weezie’s room are on fire. Oh these bad girls! There’s Lane (Diana Scarwid, Christina from Mommie Dearest!), Alex, Celia (Dinah Manoff, daughter of Lee Grant and the first person to be killed by Chuckie in Child’s Play and also Richard Mulligan’s daughter on Empty Nest) and Marty (P.J. Soles!). Lane is the next to go up in flames at graduation practice, which brings Sergeant Taplinger around, investigating everyone.

There are plenty of subjects and people misbehaving, like Paul Winjam (Harrison Ford!), a teacher who has been romantically involved with Louise and now Weezie. And soon, Paul Leahy comes to help, but Paul soon dies when he catches on fire.

Soon, Louise has gone full Regan, spitting fluids and nails at our priest hero. He puts out her fire, saves her and disappears into a burning pool, one assumes to continue onto another occult adventure that will never happen.

The Possessed is pretty decent, taking it’s time to set up who the killer is and having a hero who really comes off as cold and cynical. It’s worth watching, even if it’s to spot the actor and see plenty of your favorites in early roles.

LOST TV WEEK: Good Against Evil (1977)

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Originally airing on May 22, 1977, this attempt at a weekly series comes from director Paul Wendkos (The Mephisto Waltz, Secrets, Haunts of the Very Rich) and Hammer veteran Jimmy Sangster (The Legacy; Scream, Pretty Peggy; Horror of Dracula; The Revenge of Frankenstein).

I was really excited about the potential of this one, which promises from its Amazon listing that writer Andy Stuart (Dack Rambo) teams up with an exorcist named Father Kemschler (Dan O’Herlihy!) to battle Satan and a group of devil worshipers led by Mr. Rimmin (Richard Lynch!).

Seems like Rimmin has been after a girl named Jessica from the moment she was born, as her mother was drugged and attended to by nuns who took her baby away the moment it was born. Her mom was then killed by a black cat and Jessica is raised by his people, with her origins kept a secret.

When Andy and Jessica hook up and decide to get married, she’s unable to even get near the altar. That’s because she’s been promised to the demon Astaroth and must be kept a virgin until the beast comes back and puts a devil baby in her womb. Now, the cult that has been behind every moment of her life must keep her a virgin by cockblocking Andy at every turn.

I was totally prepared for pure 1970’s Satanic bliss, only to find myself in the midst of a relationship drama for much of the films first half. Sure, there was a flashback where a woman imagined a nearly nude and totally burned up Lynch — he came by those scars the hard way — attacking her. I was thinking — is this the TV movie version of Enter the Devil — only for cruel reality to make me learn differently.

That said, there are some good moments here, like a woman being killed by her own housecats under Rimmin’s command. And Elyssa Davalos as Jessica has plenty of great qualities that make her a wonderful horror heroine in distress. And while she’s top billed when you look this film up, Kim Cattrall makes a short appearance.

I wanted to love this. It has all the elements that you would think would lead to magic. Yet it can’t put them all together. Sometimes when you deal with the devil, you don’t get what you wanted.

If you’d like to see this for yourself, it’s on Amazon Prime or you can grab the Nightmare Worlds boxset from our old friends at Mill Creek Entertainment.

LOST TV WEEK: Spectre (1977)

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Originally airing on May 21, 1977, this show was co-written by Gene Roddenberry and Star Trek writer Samuel A. Peebles and directed by Clive Donner (What’s New Pussycat, the Get Smart reboot The Nude Bomb (which had Sylvia Kristel in it!) and the 1981 Charlie Chan reboot Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen).

I solemnly swear that I am not The Gorn.

William Sebastian (Robert Culp, I Spy, The Greatest American Hero) used to be a criminologist but now he studies the occult so that he can explain why humanity is evil. On one of his past adventures, the demon of lust Asmodeus cursed him, leaving him with a heart in need of constant medical attention from his live-in nurse and housekeeper Lilith (Majel Barrett, Nurse Chapel from Star Trek and Roddenberry’s wife). He asks an old colleague, Dr. “Ham” Hamilton (Gig Young, They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?) for help with a case.

A woman claiming to be Anitra Cyon comes to tell Sebastian that her family no longer requires his services. It turns out that she’s a succubus, or a demon who basically sexually devours men to death, and he defeats her using the Apocryphal Book of Tobit. Then, Mitri Cyon (John Hurt, The Elephant Man, Hellboy) takes them to London, but not before their plane almost gets taken out of the sky.

In London, they discover that Dr. Qualus, one of Sebastian’s associates, has already been killed. His house was on fire, he was mauled by wild animals and his body was found partially inside a pentagram. Then, they are rebuffed by Sir Geoffrey Cyon (James Villiers, Asylum), who has turned Cyon Manor into place of sex, drugs and devil worship.

Mitri gets attacked by dogs and when our heroes go to investigate the Manor, they come to believe that Asmodeus has taken over Geoffrey’s form. The truth is that Mitri is really the monster and that Geoffrey is his pawn who will sacrifice his sister. Of course, Sebastian stops the ritual and the curse is removed.

The Cyon family gives Sebastian a painting as a way of saying thank you, but the symbol of Asmodeus shows up in the corner of the piece, proving that his fight against evil is not finished.

But sadly, it was. This was intended as a pilot for a TV series. However, an extended theatrical version was released in the UK with additional footage that includes nudity during the Black Mass finale. There was also a novelization published in 1979.

Much like Ed Sanders’ book The Family, Sebastian believed that Charles Manson, Richard Speck and the Boston Strangler were all connected by invisible forces. Plus, every occult reference you can think of gets crammed into this. Also, there’s a lot of exploitation in here, as two demon women (one a dominatrix and the other a schoolgirl) call Ham daddy and try to hump him to death on a waterbed!

I would have liked to have seen what would have happened had this become a series. Within five years, Satanic panic would descend on America and movies and shows that took the 1970’s view of the occult would be passé. This is kind of a time capsule of that era.

Spectre isn’t available outside of YouTube and the grey market. That said, you should hunt it down. How else will you ever see John Hurt, one of the most talented actors of any generation, turn into a giant lizard man?

The Hills Have Eyes (1977)

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Wes Craven’s second full-length film — if we don’t include the porn film The Fireworks Woman that he directed as Abe Snake — is a trip through the Nevada desert that he wrote, produced and directed. You can see it as straight-forward narrative or you can choose to see it as a parable on how man will always be inhuman to other men.

The Carter family really gets it in this one. After being targeted by a family of cannibal savages in the Nevada desert, the family’s leader BIg Bob is crucified to a tree, the daughter Brenda is raped, numerous members are shot and stabbed and also killed, one of the family dogs is killed and even the baby is threatened with being a meal.

But they retaliate with just as much inhumanity as they battle back against the desert clan of Papa Jupiter, Pluto (Michael Berryman!) and Jupiter. Even the second family dog joins in and takes out his rage on the mutant clan.

The idea of an irradiated gang in the desert is intriguing and was inspired by the Sawney Bean clan in 1600’s Scotland, which claimed the lives of nearly 1,000 people.

Additionally, Craven was inspired by The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and ended up making a film that — in my opinion — lives in its shadow. Interestingly enough, the films share product design from Robert Burns, as well as some of the exact same animal parts that decorate the homes of each film’s cannibal lairs. 

There’s a sequel, a remake and a sequel to that as well. In the late 1980’s, Craven even debated a third movie that was to be set in space, while his 1995 film produced for HBO, Mind Ripper, was originally intended as the third film in the series.

You can watch this on Shudder with commentary from Joe Bob Briggs.

CHILLING CLASSICS MONTH: Cathy’s Curse (1977)

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John S Berry is back with another entry in this month’s Chilling Classics event. He’s been watching a lot of Big Japan wrestling, which I can totally respect, and has a lot of cool things to say about one of my favorite movies ever. Seriously, I could watch this one every single day of the year. You can read more of his words on his Twitter. 

 

Even Linda Blair possessed

Was a more likable kid

Than when Cathy was not cursed

***Gamberlaku 7-7-7 format created by the dude Raven Mack***

I think I have seen Cathy’s Curse multiple times. Similar to the sense of I think I have had that dream before that was out of order and at times it has a pink or sepia tone and characters appeared that I instinctively knew who they were. Also acceptable comparisons are: driving late into the night with heartburn from gas station coffee and your eyes drying up, falling asleep with on a Saturday night where it switches from edited movies to Byron Allen to infomercials about non-stick egg pans and a two hour hayride in the cold Midwest night with not a lot of pay-off.

I do not mention these comparisons in a negative sense, or for that matter a positive one. Cathy’s Curse is its own sense, its own grainy huh? magic. I have watched it several times and am pretty sure even if I have a sudden change of lifestyle and emulate Old Paul I am guessing I will view at least a few more times before I shuffle into a possessed doll or an old lady specter that lives in a cold ass attic.

There is an aura about this film and all of the gaps and plot holes just add to all the speculation fun you can have with it. My original viewing of this was with my nephews on a Christmas visit and it makes me proud that the movie is often quoted and will probably live on the next generation and maybe even further. Our family may not have jewelry to pass down but we have plenty of warped.

This is French Canadian film and it looks like most of the actors didn’t really go on to do a whole lot (watch for the scene at the 27-minute mark when Mummy moans “My Baby!” and police investigator puts his hand over his mouth to prevent himself from laughing). A lot of the acting is flat and Mummy seems to be filming two different movies, one where she is a doting mom and the other when she is ready to lock her daughter in an attic and go on vacation with an escaped convict. But this unevenness just adds to the film.

The film starts with a flashback scene to 1947 when a scorned husband decides to wildly drive off with his left behind daughter to catch up with his wife and son. They lose control and meet their end in an awful way in a snowy ditch. Also, this is the start of the great lines which I will not ruin, best to experience them in the moment (I actually envy those who get to hear them for the first time).

Flash to current day and the son that got away actually decides that after his wife’s breakdown it is a good idea to move into his drafty, cold ass childhood home. George just marvels about all the good memories from the house. Maybe he was too young when his mother took him away to remember all the bad times or maybe he is just a clueless putz. I am leaning towards the putz angle.

George never seems to put two and two together and have an Ah-ha moment linking his family history and all the horrible things that are happening around him. He is one of those business as usual guys, housekeeper plunged to her death? Well looks like I better put another ad in the paper tomorrow. Wife having a breakdown in a bloody bathtub and back is all lashed up? She will be fine with some soup and rest.

There is something about this film that just feels cold and also has that spare cold room you have to stay in when you visit a grandma or aunt’s house feel. Maybe you will see your breath when you wake up and for sure you are going to go thru those comforters and blankets stacked on the rocking chair next to the bed. Only thing colder is Mummy’s affection towards the Prince Valiant flat delivery Daddy. Maybe the cold and musty old house smell is not as much of an aphrodisiac that Paul thought it would be (see putz).

It doesn’t take long for the bad vibes to arrive in many forms. Creepy dolls are found, mediums (or extra rares) show up and Mummy’s sanity slides down the cold slippery ditch embankment. Luckily she has a housekeeper to help things run nice and tidy. Well, actually she may be the worst housekeeper since me in college. After for no reason, Cathy shatters a bowl against the wall the housekeeper picks up about 4 pieces and announces “there it is all done.” Shortly after the tidying up, Cathy’s doll plays some Wolf Eyes and Mummy is home just in time to see the lady go out the window.

Mummy is the only one who seems to be kind of shook up about this. Everyone else seems pretty flat and emotionless about it. Mummy has questions and suddenly Cathy can teleport and control objects and Mummy is scared and screaming. Paul seems more upset about having the ambulance out to his place for the second day in a row than his wife being sent away for another breakdown. As the ambulance pulls away I honestly thought the shrill siren was Mummy wailing and crying out. Yup, her voice and screaming and voice is that bad.

I am not sure if Old Paul and the housekeeper lady were married. Paul didn’t seem that broken up by the lady’s stage dive out the window. Maybe that is why he started hanging out with Cathy. I am not sure how or what exactly you did but I owe ya one for getting rid of that old cow. Paul’s home that was once tidy and proper is now a mess with plates piled in the sink, smut mags on the coffee table and piles of old holy underpants now that the lady is gone and he loves it.

He ties one on Cathy is way ahead of the curve in encouraging others to binge drink. The psychic just decides to pay a visit and the duo drives her to stumble to the hills. Paul drinks more and snakes appear. Cathy is going to really be fun at parties when she gets older.

Mummy comes home and immediately trouble brews. Paul tries to sober up and protect her but well let’s just say that did not end up well for poor old Paul. Mummy has a final showdown with the doll and a burned up specter of her husband’s sister. The house chuckles shakes and bellows and George never really figures out that the haunting is by Laura his crusty faced dead sister.

But Mummy smiles at Cathy and the clueless putz strikes again. See everything is fine. I often wonder what life would be like for characters after the movie wraps up. I imagine that things would be back to normal for hmm… maybe an afternoon. By the next cold morning, Mummy is back to screeching and Cathy will never be the same again. George probably completed the cycle of life and ran off with Cathy leaving their mom behind. Hopefully, George put snow chains on and is a better driver than his dad. If not, well they do make a lot of sequels and reboots these days. I’m game.

CHILLING CLASSICS MONTH: Snowbeast (1977)

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This entry was written by Bill Van Ryn, the man behind the always stupendous Groovy Doom and Drive-In Asylum. Bill knows more about movies than almost anyone I’ve ever met and is always there with an answer to my questions, no matter how trivial or dumb they may be.

A popular vacation spot, desperate for tourist dollars, is suddenly beset by a beast that kills people. This coincides with the big breadwinning season of the vacation spot, leading the people in charge to hush up the deaths and avoid spooking the tourists into bolting. In the post-Jaws 1970s, there was no limit to the number of movies that came along with this exact same plot. One of the most successful imitators was William Girdler’s 1976 flick Grizzly, which placed the action in a park and substituted a bear for a shark. 1977 TV movies Snowbeast distills this formula even further, making the park a Colorado ski resort and changing the grizzly to a bigfoot monster.  

Robert Logan and Sylvia Sidney play a grandson and grandmother who find their winter carnival interrupted by a monster that starts attacking and eating isolated people on the slopes — at one point, Logan says he can identify a victim’s body by looking at her face, and another character says “She doesn’t have it anymore.”  Sidney, of course, doesn’t want to admit that there is a problem at all, and advises Logan to keep it a secret. Bo Svenson is a former Olympic ski champion who has fallen on hard times and picks the wrong time to come to his old friend Logan for a job; I’m pretty sure entering into combat with a murderous bigfoot was not what he signed on for. Svenson’s wife, played by Yvette Mimieux, happens to be a former flame of Logan’s adding a love triangle to the story. Anyone who read the novel Jaws knows there was a love triangle in that story too, although it was not retained for the film version, so maybe nobody realized at the time just how deeply the screenwriter Joseph Stefano plunder the depths of Peter Benchley’s story. 

Although the violence is subdued enough for a TV movie, there are some moments of dread to be found here, like when one character is trapped in a wrecked RV and can’t escape the oncoming monster, which just comes right for him and slaughters him immediately. There’s also a very silly moment when the creature shows up to interrupt a rehearsal for a pageant. It smashes a window, causes a little hysterical panic (including a hilarious reaction shot from Sylvia Sidney), and then proceeds back to where it came, stopping along the way to kill a helpless parent who was just waiting to pick up her daughter from the rehearsal. 

Ultimately, camp is king in Snowbeast, and there is enough of that on hand to entertain this jaded viewer. Also, I enjoyed the outdoor photography, including some impressive tracking shots of characters skiing. 

End of the World (1977)

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Bill from Groovy Doom and Drive-In Asylum always jokes about movies where nothing happens as being his favorite movies. If that’s true, he must absolutely adore this movie.

Christopher Lee, the main selling point of this movie, said, “Some of the films I’ve been in I regret making. I got conned into making these pictures in almost every case by people who lied to me. Some years ago, I got a call from my producers saying that they were sending me a script and that five very distinguished American actors were also going to be in the film. Actors like José Ferrer, Dean Jagger, and John Carradine. So I thought “Well, that’s all right by me”. But it turned out it was a complete lie. Appropriately the film was called End Of The World.”

The film opens with a shaken Lee as a Catholic priest trying to get to a phone call. All hell breaks loose and a diner is destroyed, with the owner blinded by coffee before being killed and the pay phone being blown up. Turns out that Father Pergado is due to be replaced by the alien Zindar. Good start. And it was the trailer, filled with science fiction machines and evil nuns that got me interested in this picture!

Professor Andrew Boran discovers radio signals that predict natural disasters.   He and his wife investigate, discovering that they come from a convent where aliens have taken over. The aliens want him to join them, as the Earth is too diseased to exist.

The leads are wooden and only seem to want to have sex with one another, yet there are no love scenes. They’re utter failures at being heroic and simply move the plot along to its conclusion, where we learn that the Earth is filled with glitter. It blows up real good!

There are some ridiculous moments, such as Lee’s true form and seeing nuns operate supercomputers. Seriously, if I just read the description of this movie, it’d sound like everything I love. But seeing the execution leaves a lot to be desired.