THE RED HOUSE (1947) Blu-ray Review

The Red House (1947) d. Delmer Daves (USA) (100 min)

Pete Morgan (Edward G. Robinson), a struggling one-legged farmer who dotes on his adopted daughter Meg (Allene Roberts) to the point of smothering her, and while he grants her wish to have a schoolmate Nath (Lon McCallister) come over and help out with chores, it’s clear that he’s aware of her more-than-friendly feelings toward the lad. Luckily, he’s dating the local hottie Tibby (Julie London), so there’s less to fear, but when Nath insists on taking a shortcut through Pete’s backwoods property, we realize that the patriarch has some serious hangups about the woods and the secrets hidden therein. (No surprise, they include a certain red house.)

MOTEL HELL (1980): 45 YEARS OF CRITTERS AND FRITTERS!!

MOTEL HELL (1980) d. Kevin Connor (USA)

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“It takes all kinds of critters to make Farmer Vincent’s Fritters.” So runs the tagline for 1980’s Motel Hell (full Blu-ray review here), an endearing oddball combo of black humor and horror, featuring veteran character actor Rory Calhoun as Vincent, the proprietor of the Motel Hello, where the O on the neon sign keeps going on the blink. Vincent and his equally wacky sister Ida (a pre-Porky’s Nancy Parsons) make their living by ensnaring unsuspecting motorists to fill up the skins of their famous Farmer Smith sausages.

THE RED HOUSE (1947) Movie Review

The Red House (1947) d. Delmer Daves (USA) (100 min)

Daves, who directed the classic Westerns 3:10 to Yuma, Jubal, and Broken Arrow, got his start – like so many other directors in the 1940s – dabbling in the crisp shadows of film noir, and while this Edward G. Robinson vehicle is not preoccupied with criminal underworlds and double-crosses, it’s steeped in atmosphere so thick you could swim in it.

NIGHT OF THE LEPUS (1972) Blu-ray review

Night of the Lepus (1972) d. William F. Claxton (USA) (88 min)

A hormone intended to alter the breeding cycle of rabbits overrunning Arizona ranchlands instead turns them into flesh-eating, 150-pound monsters! Stuart Whitman, Janet Leigh, Rory Calhoun and DeForest Kelley are among the intrepid humans facing off against the behemoth bunnies, using guns, flames, dynamite, and anything else in their grasp to battle their oversized, hungry tormentors.

MOTEL HELL (1980) Blu-ray Review

Motel Hell (1980) d. Kevin Connor (USA)

“It takes all kinds of critters to make Farmer Vincent’s Fritters.” So runs the tagline for this oddball combo of black humor and horror, featuring veteran character actor Rory Calhoun as Vincent, the proprietor of the titular establishment (the “O” on the “Motel Hello” neon sign keeps going on the blink) He and equally wacky sibling Ida (a pre-Porky’s Nancy Parsons) make their living by snaring unsuspecting passing motorists to fill up the skins of their famous, delight-of-the-county sausages. When Vincent takes a shine to potential tasty treat Terry (bland blonde Nina Axelrod), tensions rise between the killer siblings, not to mention goofy brother Bruce (Paul Linke) who serves as the local badge.