"A New High In Terror and Shock!"

Made on the downside of the trend of casting actresses from Hollywood's golden age in horror and/or exploitative films that had started with Robert Aldrich's WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE in 1962 (and seemingly had breathed its last with A.I.P's WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH HELEN in 1971) this sometimes lurid/sometimes gory entry was the only film directed by editor and sound technician Donald Wolfe (THE HUMAN DUPLICATORS 1965) it sat on the shelf upon completion in 1970 (with possible some additional filming over the course of the next few years) wherein 1974 it was finally released by Joseph Brenner Associates under the title SAVAGE INTRUDER (also the title on the Unicorn Video release in the '80s) where its psychedelic trappings must have seemed even more dated. In addition, star Miriam Hopkins had passed away in 1972 which must have added to the befuddlement of theatergoers.

The film opens with a beautifully shot & evocative credit sequence of the then rusted and dilapidated Hollywood sign atop Mt. Lee (where it is literally falling apart before the camera) before it pans down to a woman's mutilated corpse at its base. We next see various shots of old-time glamorous Hollywood (some of it cribbed from SINGIN' IN THE RAIN) and then cutting to a contemporary seedy Sunset Blvd. where an elderly woman is followed home and bloodily dispatched by a variety of sharp objects (including an electric knife). A televised news reports that there has been a series of brutal killings of women in the Hollywood area. 

In her sprawling Hollywood Hills mansion (actually the Santa Monica home of silent screen actress Norma Talmadge) faded and reclusive screen star Katherine Packard (Miriam Hopkins DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE 1931) has fallen down the stairs in a drunken stupor and broken her leg. Her secretary Leslie (Gale Sondergaard THE SPIDER WOMAN 1943) decides to hire a live-in nurse and in a bit of happenstance, a Hollywood tour bus (driven by the least funny of The Three Stooges Joe Besser) stops in front of her house, and struggling actor Vic Valance (David Garfield and son of John Garfield) whose been hitching a ride on the rear bumper jumps off and marches up to the front door.

Introducing himself to the cook Mildred (busy character actor Florence Lake THE DAY OF THE LOCUST 1974) as "Laurel N. Hardy", he is mistaken as an applicant for the nurse job and after flim-flamming his way past Leslie, gets the job. The now wheelchair-bound Katherine quickly becomes fond of her new young companion and he soon seduces her along with the housekeeper Greta (Virginia Winters CHARLEY VARRICK) while Leslie & Mildred become increasingly suspicious of his behavior and closeness to Katherine. Periodically Vic has hallucinatory LSD-triggered flashbacks to his childhood as he watches his nymphomaniac mother being groped by a gaggle of men before he (or somebody?) chops off her hand with an ax and then a quick cut to ketchup gurgling out of a bottle.  He also suffers from other LSD flashbacks that include quick-cut montages where among others Hitler and Alister Crowley can be glimpsed. Since there is no suspense on who the slasher is as seen in the opening sequence (the plot makes it in-your-face obvious) we are only left with the when & who in the Packard household are going to meet their end. 

 Hopkins who would sadly die of a heart attack in 1972 throws herself full-tilt into the proceedings whether gleefully screaming "vodka!" (which she insists on injecting directly into her veins) when asked what flavor of ice cream she wants, flashing a bare breast while getting a nude massage from Vic and in one particularly over-the-top-sequence participating in the Hollywood Christmas parade as she drunkenly shrieks "I'm the Queeeeen of the Christmas Paraaaaade!" while riding with Santa Claus. It would have been nice for Hopkins to go out on a higher note, however it cannot be said that she does not give her all here and her role may be a trainwreck, but it's an entertaining (and sometimes amazing in its bad taste) train wreck. There are a few sequences that hint at some evocative atmosphere including one room in Katherine's house that contains mannequins wearing costumes from her past roles. 

One of the more under-appreciated golden age actresses, Sondergaard who specialized in cunning & sinister roles (she is especially good in the 1939 version of THE CAT AND THE CANARY and just missed out on the Wicked Witch role in THE WIZARD OF OZ) comes out the best of the leads as she gives a sympathetic performance as the caring secretary. Although he looks a great deal like his famous father (and in some instances sounds eerily just like him) Garfield lacks the charisma of his Dad, although some more focused direction might have helped his role (the same can be said for Hopkins). He would die at 51 of heart problems very similar to his father. 

A sleazier take on SUNSET BLVD. tossed with a bit of such A.I.P. counter-culture films as ANGEL, ANGEL DOWN WE GO and mixed (very slightly) with some Euro "past family issues" Gothic horrors such as HATCHET FOR A HONEYMOON, this is overdone camp on many levels, but it is entertaining as heck on that level. There's a couple of out-right lifts from SUNSET BLVD. including Katherine hosting a dinner party with some of her other old Hollywood cronies among them her former director (Lester Matthews THE WEREWOLF OF LONDON) who secretly loves her and Vic doing shopping for his new gigolo-financed clothes courtesy of his employer. 

The opening credit sequence of the crumbling Hollywood sign with the wind blowing through it is the most atmospheric of the film and one wonders if perhaps this was done by the second unit director Don May as it is so unlike the rest of the film. The music is by Stu Phillips, who seemed to supply the music for exploitation film of the period and had just come off THE LOSERS, THE CURIOUS FEMALE, and BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS. 

Previously only available on VHS sourced releases of dubious legality HOLLYWOOD HORROR HOUSE has been given a Blu-ray release from Vinegar Syndrome in an eye-popping 4K transfer from the 35mm negative which brings out the colors and psychedelic Day-Glo color scheme in glorious retina-burning color. There is also a commentary track with David Decoteau and David Del Valle that is more entertaining than the film at certain points. 

THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK 1972 Restoration & Blu-Ray

   

     Pamula Pierce Barcelou has been working in conjunction with The George Eastman House on a restoration of her father Charles B. Pierce's classic THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK. She has a YouTube page where she has put up a sampling of the restored footage along with some outtakes and they look breathtaking to say the least.
    She regained the rights to her late father's movie after a protracted legal battle and this release will banish forever to the garbage bins those bootleg eyesores we've endured through the years. Limited theatrical showings will begin in June followed by a physical release later.
    THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK kicked off the Bigfoot genre cinema craze and along with 1967's famous Patterson-Gimlin footage made the Sasquatch legends a cultural phenomenon  in late 60's and 70's that continues to this day.
    Made for approx. $100,000  and self-distributed by Pierce in partnership with Howco International, it went on to gross upwards of $20,000,000 playing for years on the drive-in circuit.

THE MANITOU 1978 on Blu

    After directing the nature-on-a-rampage classics GRIZZLY 1976 and DAY OF THE ANIMALS along the blacksploitation EXORCIST homage ABBEY (which was sued into oblivion by Warner Bros.) William Gridler got his change at the big time with this 1978 Native American occult/mysticism bizarre oddity. 

   Based upon a book by Graham Masterton, it was distributed by Avco Embassy and tragically Gridler would die in a helicopter accident just prior to the film's release. Often derided and mocked the film while no doubt having its share of WTF moments features a great cast with Tony Curtis, Susan Strasberg (SCREAM OF FEAR), Burgess Meredith (THE SENTINEL), Ann Southern (THE KILLING KIND), Lurene Tuttle (WALKING TALL) and Stella Stevens (SLAUGHTER) with Curtis in giving one of his better later period performances as a sleazy medium. Despite of some fleeting nudity from Strasberg and some prosthetic gore the film carried a PG rating and is a wonderful example of how much you could get away with in the 70's and still fall short of an R. It's crazy plot will either grab you from the get-go or leave you scratching your head in puzzlement, but for fans of 70's horror it's a must.

   Shot in Panavision and 2 track stereo with a budget of $3,000,000 it was quite a step up for Gridler and while not a great film, it's certainly an interesting curio from a great decade for screen horror. Strasberg plays a woman who notice's a strange growth on her back which turns out to be an Indian spirit in the form of a growing fetus which hopes to possess her body. Filled with mentions of ESP, spiritualism, mysticism and Native American folklore it certainly takes a different track then a straight up horror film and can be looked as a sort of a mash-up between ROSEMARY'S BABY, THE EXORCIST and THE FURY and CARRIE.

    Scream Factory's Blu-ray of MANITOU despite of the packaging does contain the Dolby 2.0 stereo tracks in addition to the 2.0 mono and with a 4K restoration looks fine with bright colors as the studio bound interior stuff looking especially eye-popping. Extras include a commentary by Troy Howarth, an interview with producer Davis Sheldon and a nice long interview with Masterton along with the usual trailer TV spots and image gallery. 

LUST FOR A VAMPIRE 1971

     On July 30th Shout Factory will release Hammer's LUST FOR A VAMPIRE on Blu. Directed by Jimmy Sangster it's the middle film in that studios "Karnstein Trilogy" preceded by 1970's THE VAMPIRE LOVERS and followed by TWINS OF EVIL later in 1971.  Widely considered the be the lesser of the three films it follows Hammers then formula of mixing Gothic horror along with healthy dollops of bare breasts and blood. 

    The "Hammer Glamour" marketing campaign this time around focused on Danish born Yutte Stensgaard who appears here as Mircalla/Carmilla Karnstein who infiltrates a girl's school. This was somewhat of a troubled production with Sangster replacing Terence Fisher as director along with Peter Cushing bowing out of the male lead to care for wife and being replaced with Ralph Bates (who refereed to LUST FOR A VAMPIRE as "the worst film ever made"). Ingrid Pitt was originally slated to reprise her role from THE VAMPIRE LOVERS turned down the film. 

    Despite its dodgy reputation (including a winch the inducing pop vocal song "Strange Love" & Yutte's cross-eyed love-making) it still has a quite a bit to recommend in it. Ralph Bates was one of Hammer's better late period actors and Yutte's blood soaked bare bosom resurrection sequence is defiantly an eye-opener (stills of which were the highlight of several horror movie books back in the day). Plus, there's Hammers usual excellent Gothic set design & costumes and a cast that also includes Suzanna Leigh (THE LOST CONTINENT), Pippa Steel (THE VAMPIRE LOVERS) and Judy Matheson (TWINS OF EVIL).  

    This release will nicely fill out the trilogy on Blu and adds to Shout's ongoing Hammer releases which have been coming fast and furious lately. No extras have been announced yet.  

SHADOW OF THE HAWK 1976 On Blu

    One of the more interesting and up till now examples of missing 70's horror SHADOW OF THE HAWK will be released on Blu-ray by Mill Creek on Sept. 18. Paired up with 1979's NIGHTWING., SHADOW OF THE HAWK was one of the numerous Canadian tax shelter movies that were made during this period. Most often doing their best to hide their Canadian origins, they're a fascinating (especially in the case of  horror/thriller films) sub-genre with examples such as MY BLOODY VALENTINE (1982), RITUALS (1976) and of course David Cronenberg's early work.
   Directed by George McCowan (FROGS 1972) SHADOW OF THE HAWK is an interesting (and sometime daffy) story with young executive Jan-Michael Vincent whose grandfather Chief Dan George enlists his help in fighting a malevolent Native American spirit. It would make a great dbl. feat, with William Gridler's THE MANITOU from 1978 (still sadly missing from DVD) and features Jan-Michael wrestling a bear!  The story doesn't hold up to close inspection and the special effects are a bit more ambitious then the budget allows, but it's a fun piece of 70's horror.
   NIGHTWING is one of the plethora of nature runs amok movies from this time and a good cast helps elevate it although it has the look of TV movie from the period. 

EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC Coming on Blu!!!

     In a surprise (some would say shocking) announcement Scream Factory is unleashing John Boorman's much maligned EXORCIST sequel on Blu-ray. Streeting on Sept. 25 it will include both including the 117 minute initial release cut and the 110 minute re-edited version that was put into wide release after the film's disastrous opening.
    Always on my Halloween watch list and rightly almost universally ridiculed, I've always found an almost a perverse fascination in it as a mind bogglingly example of WTF cinema with some sequences almost laugh out loud hilarious. Featuring a gorgeous looking Linda Blair, a scenery gobbling performance by Richard Burton and a fresh off her Oscar win Louise Fletcher along with a returning Max von Sydow as Father Merrin. Plus, you've got James Earl Jones, Paul Henried (CASABLANCA) in his last role and swarms of locusts.

THE EVIL 1978 On Blu

    On Sept. 18 Scream Factory will release this 1978 late night cable staple on Blu-ray. Directed by Gus Trikonis who had an interesting career in early 70's exploitation including THE SWING BARMAIDS (1975). NASHVILLE GIRL (1976), THE STUDENT BODY (1976) and MOONSHINE COUNTY EXPRESS (1977) it was probably seen by him a move forward into more mainstream projects (he was also a co-writer on the screenplay). Barely released theatrically by New World it showed up constantly on late night TV during the 80's and its video box would haunt the shelves of mom & pop video store everywhere.
   Starring Richard Crenna (FIRST BLOOD), Joanna Pettet (A CRY IN THE WILDERNESS) and 70's horror mainstay Andrew Prine (ANDREW KING OF WITCHES & BARN OF THE NAKED DEAD) it features the standard plot of group of people trapped in a house with unsavory past, but the film does add some different elements to proceedings and the characters back stories. Going into some real bizarre territory in its finale (complete with an unforgettable cameo by Victor Buono) the film has always been somewhat unfairly maligned.
   Previously available from Shout on a dbl. feature DVD with TWICE DEAD the new Blu will feature a new 2K scan from the only surviving elements along with an audio commentary with Trikonis, write Donald G. Thompson and director of photography Mario Di Leo moderated by Walter Olsen (ported over from the DVD) plus a trailer and TV spot.

S.F. Brownrigg Dbl. Feature on BLU

   VCI has announced a Blu/DVD double feature for two of S.F. Brownrigg's low budget Texas horror oddities for release in HD on Aug. 14. Working in Texas during the 70's (he'd cut his teeth working for bottom-of-the-barrel auteur Larry Buchanan) Brownrigg made a fascinating series of horror thrillers that played under various titles on triple and double features that snaked through the drive-in circuit.
    Usually featuring claustrophobic settings, dysfunctional families and close-ups of sweaty faces they've been fixtures and low budget labels and those multi-pack horror DVD ("50 Chillers for $9.95") and have been long over due for upgrade. DON'T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT (1973) has been the subject of a couple of blu-ray releases in the past couple of years and VCI's previous double feature DVD of that and DON'T OPEN THE DOOR (1975) were the best looking these vfilms have ever looked, so it'll be interesting to see what VCI's blu turns out to be. Here's hoping!

    

THE REINCARNATION OF PETER PROUD 1975

    Kino has released the final specs for their upcoming release of THE REINCARNATION OF PETER PROUD. Directed by J. Lee Thompson (THE GUNS OF NAVARONE) it was based on a bestselling book of the the time by Max Simon Elrich - who also wrote the screenplay for the film.

   Released in 1975 it's been long OOP on home video with only bootleg DVD's floating around all derived from the ancient VHS release. Kino will be releasing a new 4K transfer from Paramount along with a slew of extras.

   Although it does have its faults with a plot sometimes slipping into romantic melodrama it is a long missing and interesting piece of 70's horror. One of the best things going for it is the presence of actor Michael Sarrizan. One of the most under rated actors of his time he seemed to have an infallible knack for picking interesting movies such as THEY SHOOT HORSES DON'T THEY, HARRY IN YOUR POCKET and THE FLIM-FLAM MAN and bringing a unique presence to each role.

    The film also stars the wonderful Margo Kidder (who that same year was also in 92 IN THE SHADE and THE GREAT WALDO PEPPER) and a drop dead gorgeous Jennifer O'Neill.