HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARROLL BAKER

    

    Happy Birthday Giallo Goddess Carroll Baker !! Sure she made bunches of stuff in Hollywood, but Carroll went over to Italy in the late 60's to make a series of Giallo films (in which she proudly shed her clothes) with the best of them being directed by Umberto Lenzi. She was one of the first American stars to make that journey. I got to meet her at a Chiller Con back in the 90's and she was beyond sweet as she patiently answered all my Giallo-geek questions. She starred in THE SWEET BODY OF DEBORAH 1968, ORGASMO 1969, SO SWEET...SO PREVERSE 1969, PARANOIA 1970, KNIFE OF ICE 1972 & BABY YAGA 1973 among others.

HOW TO STUFF A WILD BIKINI 1965

   Coming out June 25 is the sixth film in A.I.P.'s "beach party" series of films is 1965's HOW TO STUFF A WILD BIKINI.  Often considered the last official beach party film it was followed by SERGEANT DEADHEAD 1965, THE GHOST IN THE INVISIBLE BIKINI 1966 and a pair of Dr. Goldfoot's and the two of racing themed films.

    Frankie Avalon part was regulated to just a cameo here as he was filming SERGEANT DEADHEAD and Dwayne Hickman taking over the male lead with Annette Funicello returning as Dee Dee along with beach party veterans John Ashley, Jody McCrea, Harvey Lembeck and Buster Keaton. Plus guest stars Brian Donlevy and Mickey Rooney and a soundtrack featuring The Kingsman.

   You either love these or you hate 'em and as one who loves these I'm really excited for this. Olive had previously released BEACH BLANKET BINGO and MUSCLE BEACH PARTY so hopefully the remainder will follow. 

HERCULES IN THE HAUNTED WORLD Coming On Blu

  Kino have announced for an Aug. 20 release Mario Bava's hallucinatory HERCULES IN THE HAUNTED WORLD from 1961. Taken from a  2K restoration from the original camera negative, Kino's disc will in include both the  U.S. and Italian versions of the film with Italian version containing Christopher Lee's original voice as it was dubbed for the American release.
  Starring Reg Park as the title character (refereed to as Ercole in the Italian version) this was Bava's first color film and stands a great example of his use of color and lighting along making a fantastic looking production on a minuscule budget.
  A recent German release included a Tim Lucas commentary, but no word yet on it's inclusion or other extras.

BILLY THE KID VS. DRACULA 1966 On Blu

 
 
    On Aug. 20 Kino Lorber will be releasing BILLY THE KID VS. DRACULA. Along with its co-feature JESSE JAMES MEETS FRANKENSTEIN'S DAUGHTER, it was directed by William Beaudrie who had a career going back to the silent era and these two features were his final credits. Long a staple of those "worst movie ever made" discussions it's a true low-budget oddity with top-billed Caradine playing a vampire count (the name "Dracula"is never mentioned in the film) who sets up shop in an abandoned silver mine (where most of the plot seems to take place) and sets his sights on Billy's fiance as his new bride. Billy was played by longtime Hollywood stuntman Chuck Courtney who had played the Lone Ranger's nephew on the 1950's TV series.
   No word yet on extras or the release of its companion feature.

SANDS OF THE KALAHARI 1965

  

    Concerning a disparate group of airplane crash survivors stranded in the desert wastelands of South Africa, its a shame SANDS OF KALAHARI has never really recd. the accolades it deserves. Directed by Cy Endield, its a first rate sweaty and intense adventure film - but was always maddeningly hard to see. Thankfully this was remedied a few years back by a DVD and blu-ray release from Olive Films. It has a first rate cast including Stuart Whitman (in whats by far the best role of his career), Susannah York, Harry Andrews, Theodore Bikel, Nigel Davenport and best of all the great Stanley Baker.
  After the success of ZULU American producer Joseph E. Levine approached the production team of Cy Enfield and Stanley Baker to collaborate on another picture. Deciding on a screen adaptation of William Mulvihill's African adventure novel SANDS OF KALAHARI they initially approached Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor to star but Taylor refused to travel to Africa and George Peppard and  Susannah York were then cast. Peppard dropped out for THE BLUE MAX and Whitman was cast at last minute.(with he and York most likely for a whole lot cheaper then Burton & Taylor).
  Stranded after their initial plane flight is cancelled the group instead hires pilot Nigel Davenport to fly them to Johannesburg. Severely over loading the plane Davenport runs into a huge swarm of locusts during the flight and crashes the plane in the barren desert. Its to the movies credit that we don't get a whole lot of unnecessary back story (and soap opera plot lines) for the characters - we basically learn that Baker is an alcoholic former mine superintendent, Bikel is a college professor & Whitman is a big game hunter (with York's and Andrews story left mostly to the imagination).

   After the crash the group initially works together, finding a source of water and some food in a jagged outcropping of rocks that also is populated by a colony of baboons. Whitman with his gun soon begins exerting his alpha male persona as the best person to deal with this situation and begins seeing the other male members as a hindrance to his survival (along with the baboons - who he begins hunting down).  Seeing himself as Adam and York as his Eve, the slowing escalating psychotic Whitman begins whittling down the group, leaving only Baker left to defy him.
   The films makes excellent us of its locations with the wide screen photography (by Erwin Hillier - who also shot OPERATION CROSSBOW this same year) making great use of the wide sun baked vistas and shimmering distant horizons. The characters also become more bedraggled as the film progresses (with Whitman especially interesting to watch as he reverts to savagery) and in a nice touch there's refreshingly make up free York, who doesn't look like she stepped straight out of a beauty parlor as often in the case with female characters in movies such as this. All in all a this is great film worthy of re-discovery and perfect to watch on a hot summer's night.

REVENGE OF THE SHOGUN WOMEN 1977 in 3D

   Kino Lorber in association with the 3-D Film archive have announced REVENGE OF SHOGUN WOMEN 1977 (aka 13 NUNS) on Blu-ray and 3D for release later this year.

   Reuniting the director (Mei Chun Chang) and star (Ying Bai) of 1977's 3D extravaganza DYNASTY it sells the story of a group of women in 18th century China who band together to take revenge on a group of bandits who attacked their village. I was lucky to see this on the big screen several years ago in 3D and while not reaching the giddy "coming at you" heights of its predecessor, it's still will be a great experience for those with 3D capabilities. Let's face it, this is what you want from 3D - shit coming at you and not just boring depth of field stuff. 

RAW COURAGE 1984 On Blu

    Scorpion has announced the release Robert Rosen's 1984 desert survival take on The Most Dangerous Game for release on Blu-ray for later this year. An HBO cable staple during the 90's, this has been  looong... unavailable on home video, expect for that old VHS release that was a fixture on video rental shelves back in the day. 

   The only director credit for long-time producer Rosen (FRENCH CONNECTION II), it stars Ronny Cox (DELIVERANCE), Art Hindle (THE BROOD) and Tim Maier as a trio of long-distance runners who run afoul of a sadistic M. Emmet Walsh and his militia army who hunt them through a barren and unforgiving Mojave Desert.

   Produced and written by Cox, it sadly has fallen off the radar (not that it was ever on) and is due for a rediscovery, as it's fine action adventure piece that really brings out the hot brutal landscape as the hunted trio spend almost the entire movie running for their lives. 

FEAR IN THE NIGHT and HORROR OF FRANKENSTEIN On Blu

   You can fill in a couple more holes in your Region "A" Hammer Blu collection as Shout Factory have announced the release of two later period efforts from the British horror studio. 

   FEAR IN THE NIGHT from 1972 is one of Hammer's better later period films and one it best of the "psychological" thrillers that the studio dabbled in. Starring Peter Cushing, Joan Collins and Judy Geeson, it was directed by Hammer screenwriter/producer Jimmy Sangster.

   1970's HORROR OF FRANKENSTEIN came at a time when the studios Gothic horrors were floundering a bit and was an attempt to kick-start the Frankenstein franchise with a younger cast along with Ralph Bates replacing Cushing as the Doctor. A sometimes-uneven mix of dark comedy, blood and heaving bosoms, it showed Bates as a wholly unsympathetic character whose actually more evil & murderous then his creation. 

    Not as dismal as most reviews suggest, it's fun late-night horror when watched in the right frame of mind and helped by forgetting Hammer's previous Frankenstein films. Not mention you have Kate O'Mara and Veronica Carlson as the requisite "Hammer Glamour". David Prowse (STAR WARS) plays the monster and would again play that role in the far superior FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL in 1974. 

   No firm street dates or extras have been announced.

THE TOUGH ONES aka ROME ARMED TO THE TEETH on Blu-Ray

    Grindhouse Releasing have released the final specs and a street date for the long awaited THE TOUGH ONES (ROME ARMED TO TEETH) Blu-Ray. Directed by Umberto Lenzi and released in 1976, this is an outstanding example of 70's Italian Polliziotteschi with slam-bang action, shootouts and best of all an amazing performance by the great Tomas Milian as a psychotic hunchback.

    Also starring Franco Nero look-alike and Italian crime movie mainstay Maurizio Merli as a Dirty Harry style policeman, Ivan Rassimov (EATEN ALIVE), Maria Rosaria Omaggio (NIGHTMARE CITY) and token American Arthur Kennedy (LET SLEEPING CORPSES LIE). 

   The 4K package which contains a whole batch of extras including a commentary by Eurocrime documentary director Mike Malloy, interviews, a CD with Franco Micalizzi's score and much more can be pre-ordered from the good folks over at Diabolik DVD for a July 9 release date. 

DEAD OF NIGHT 1945 On Blu-Ray From Kino

 

   On July 9 Kino Lorber studio Classics is releasing the classic British horror anthology DEAD OF NIGHT.

   Released in the fall of 1945, it was the first British horror film produced since 1936 when the BBFC began to actively discourage the production of horror film much as its U.S. counterpart the PCA had been doing. Produced by Ealing Studios it consists of five tales of the supernatural and a framing device and can be looked upon as a predecessor to the string of horror anthologies produced by Amicus during the 1960's and 70's. Two of the three segments were directed by Alberto Cavalcanti along with Charles Crichton (who would direct A FISH CALLED WANDA), Robert Hammer and Basil Deardon (who also directed the wrap-around segments).

    Like most anthologies some stories work better than others with the comedic ghost story featuring a pair of golfers being the outlier here. DEAD OF NIGHT does have a couple of corkers including one concerning a haunted mirror and the justifiably famous one with Michael Redgrave and a malevolent ventriloquist dummy. The original U.S. release had two the segments cut including the golfing and a Christmas themed one which brought the run time down to 77 min., but this release will contain the full 110 min. version. 

   Kino's release will be based on 4K restoration released by Studiocanal in the UK (I own this disc and it's a beauty) and the Kino disc will feature a commentary by Tim Lucas and an excellent 75 min. documentary carried over from the Studiocanal release. 

DARK OF THE SUN 1968 on Blu-Ray

       Based upon a book by African adventure specialist Wilbur Smith, 1968's DARK OF THE SUN is a balls-to-the-wall action film that barely pauses to catch its breath during its nail-bitingly intense 100 min. running time. Directed by Academy Award cinematographer Jack Cardiff (BLACK NARCISSUS) it features Rod Taylor as a mercenary Capt. Curry in the war-torn Congo of the 1960's. Curry who along with his buddy/comrade Sgt. Ruffo (Jim Brown) is hired to rescue a group of stranded Europeans who are caught behind the lines. Jacking up the tension considerably is the real motive behind the "rescue"- $50,000,000 worth of diamonds held in a bank there.
      Regulated to some late-night TV showings and a pan & scan VHS, this was mercifully rescued by Warner Archive for a DVD release a few years back and now we have a beautiful Blu -Ray that brings forth the sweaty violence in startling clarity.
     Gathering together a group of mercenaries including Peter Carsten dubbed by Paul Frees) as a sadistic ex-Nazi turned mercenary and in a very touching performance that could have easily gone the wrong way Kenneth Moore as an alcoholic doctor they travel by a heavily armed train their destination, picking up missionary Yvette Mimieux (reuniting with Taylor from THE TIME MACHINE) along the way. The plot gives us a nice lead-up, spending just enough time in preparation of and the train journey itself to let each character develop their own individuality. Mimieux at first seems hopelessly out-of-place in the midst of the mission, but she along with Jim Brown will become a conscience for Taylor and the audience.

     Thankfully a hinted at burgeoning romance between Mimieux and Taylor never materializes, leaving the plot free to move from one action sequence to another. Although the plot has politics as a basis for the recovery of the diamonds, the mercenaries for the most part are guided by money, greed or revenge (or sometimes all three) and once the train gets underway it's a non-stop adrenaline rush. Browns made out as the most sympathetic of the bunch and a couple of dialogue scenes with Taylor help flesh out both characters.
    Taylor has never been better here and it's one of those roles that once you seem him here, you'll never look at him the same way again. There's an excellent chemistry between himself and Brown with a real sense of longtime friendship and camaraderie between them. Taylor's revenge-driven transformation at the end all of film, as he turns into almost feral-like animal on the hunt for blood is an amazing piece of acting.
    The film's much heralded violence still packs a wallop to this day with several startling wince inducing images and sequences including a covert trip to a town to retrieve the diamonds that's like a trip to one of the outer circles of hell. If all this weren't enough, you also get fight with a chainsaw and Rod driving the literal piss out of a Land Rover.
     Extras on the disc include the theatrical trailer and a new commentary with Trailers From Hell Larry Karaszewski & Larry Olson along with Brian Saur & Elric Kane.

All above screen-caps are from the Warner Archive Blu-Ray