SCARE-A-THON 2020: THINKING INSIDE THE BOX

Hello, friends and fellow fiends! It’s that time of year again, when autumn leaves rustle louder, darkness arrives sooner, and mask wearing is happily embraced by the masses….

IT'S SCARE-A-THON 2020

THE BEAST MUST DIE (1974) Blu-ray Review

The Beast Must Die (1974) d. Paul Annett (UK) (92 min)

Combining elements of Richard Connell's The Most Dangerous Game and Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, James Blish’s short story “There Shall Be No Darkness” is given an blaxploitation horror twist when eccentric millionaire Tom Newcliffe (Calvin Lockhart) invites eight diverse individuals to his island estate for a weekend of hunting… without telling them that they are the quarry in question. Our intrepid adventurer has it in his head that one of his guests is a lycanthrope and is eager to face the supernatural foe face to snarling face. As the hours click by and the moon waxes full, suspects become victims, the game is afoot, and the question on everyone’s lips is, “Who Is The Werewolf?”

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1962) Blu-ray Review

The Phantom of the Opera (1962) d. Terence Fisher (UK) (84 min)

When tragedy strikes Lord D’Arcy’s (Michael Gough) London opera house during an opening night performance, it’s soon clear that the “accident” is the work of a deranged madman – The Phantom (Herbert Lom). After Christine (Heather Sears), cast as the lead in this new version of Saint Joan, is contacted by the shadowy specter, her producer/lover (Edward De Souza) investigates, tracking the ghostly Phantom to his secret underground lair. Disfigured and nearly destroyed, the former composer and musician now demands hellish revenge on those who have wronged him, with Christine, the sole glimmer of light in his dark, violent life.

EYE SEE YOU (2002) Blu-ray Review

Eye See You (aka D-Tox) (2002) d. Jim Gillespie (USA) (96 min)

After a serial cop-killer racks up nine victims with no leads in sight, the Feds assign Jake Malloy (Sylvester Stallone) to the case, not knowing the agent is the real target for torment. Seems our intrepid lawman fouled up the psycho’s intricate masterpiece of murder involving prostitutes a few years back and vengeance is now on the menu, first in the form of Red (James Kidnie), his best buddy in blue and then Mary (Dina Meyer), his lovely fiancee. Distraught and suicidally alcoholic, Malloy is encouraged by his superior (Charles S. Dutton) to visit a specialized detox center in remote and snowy Wyoming, where he joins an array of similarly addicted keepers of the peace of every stripe… who immediately start getting bumped off by our supposedly dead killer.

Fool's Views (8/17 – 8/31)

Yep, six months later, still feels a bit like this....

Greetings, friends! It’s September and I see you!

Wrapped up the month with a couple of overarching themes, that of shapeshifting ape-folk and a pair of wunderkind siblings bent on tackling every cinematic genre known to man, woman, or child. Sprinkled throughout is the usual hodgepodge of randomness that makes the grass grow, so hopefully you’ll find something to suit your fancy.

As always, feel free to leave your two cents worth – we’ll make sure you get some change back.

Enjoy!

STUNTWOMEN: THE UNTOLD HOLLYWOOD STORY Movie Review

Stuntwomen: The Untold Hollywood Story (2020) d. April Wright (USA) (85 min)

Remember when Joan Wilder took her big slide down the mountain in Romancing the Stone? Or when Trinity raced against traffic on a motorcycle in The Matrix Reloaded? Or when Kara and Letty beat the crap out of each other (wearing evening gowns) in Furious 7? These are some of the most memorable moments in their respective films, and you’ll notice that I refer to them by their character names, as opposed to the performers that played them. That’s because for each of these moments, it’s not Kathleen Turner, Carrie-Ann Moss, Ronda Rousey, or Michelle Rodriguez whose actions we’re applauding, but rather those of the less-recognized Jeannie Epper, Debbie Evans, Heidi Moneymaker, and Renae Moneymaker taking falls, burning rubber, and kicking ass. This is the world of the stuntwoman and, as narrator/exec producer Rodriguez declares in the intro of director Wright’s eye-opening documentary, “The best ones are invisible… until now.”

JUNGLE CAPTIVE (1945) Blu-ray Review

Jungle Captive (1945) d. Harold Young (USA) (63 min)

This second sequel to Captive Wild Woman is notable primarily for (Caucasian) Vicky Lane replacing Acquanetta as Paula Dupree and for the presence of Universal’s “Monster without Makeup” Rondo Hatton, cracking necks like nobody’s business as “Moloch the Brute,” in his second showcase role following The Pearl of Death with Sherlock Holmes (1944). Seems that a certain endocrinology enthusiast, Mr. Stendahl (Otto Kruger), is a Frankenstein in the making, obsessed with reviving dead tissue, viewing the resurrection of Paula Dupree (last seen in Jungle Woman) as his Mt. Everest to climb. Recruiting Moloch to steal her corpse from the morgue and then later to kidnap his assistant Ann (Amelita Ward), Stendahl plots a synthesis of electricity and blood transfusions (and brain transplanting, just for good measure) in order to demonstrate his superior intellect to the world.

JUNGLE WOMAN (1944) Blu-ray Review

Jungle Woman (1944) d. Reginald LeBorg (USA) (61 min)

Paula Dupree (Acquanetta) is back… and killed in the first scene when she attacks Dr. Fletcher (J. Carroll Naish), who is then brought to trial for her murder (cue the flashback sequences). It seems that our glandular mishap survived her fate at the end of Captive Wild Woman and was nursed back to health by the good doctor, who had also acquired the late Dr. Walters’ sanitarium and continued in his research, thereby transforming Cheela/Paula back to her human form. In what amounts to a retread of Jacques Tourneur’s Cat People, we discover that whenever Paula is sexually aroused – as she is by Fletcher’s assistant Bob (Richard Davis), who has a thing going with his boss’ daughter Joan (Lois Collier) – she has a tendency to get a little hairier and homicidal.

CAPTIVE WILD WOMAN (1943) Blu-ray Review

Captive Wild Woman (1943) d. Edward Dmytryk (USA) (61 min)

When Cheela, a female gorilla exhibiting nearly human-like emotions, is captured and brought to the circus by famed hunter and animal trainer Fred Mason (Milburn Stone), she attracts the attention of gland specialist Dr. Walters (John Carradine) who plots to kidnap the giant beast for his own experiments. Through a combination of injections and brain surgery (compliments of his unwilling assistant, played by Fay Helm), Cheela is transformed into the beautiful Paula Dupree (Acquanetta), who subsequently develops a rather deep attraction to Mason, himself in the thick of creating a daring new circus act. Unfortunately for all, except perhaps Mason’s fiancee Beth (Evelyn Ankers), Walters’ success proves only temporary, and Paula begins devolving back to her previous primal self.

THE MONSTER AND THE GIRL (1941) Blu-ray Review

The Monster and the Girl (1941) d. Stuart Heisler (USA) (65 min)

After her brother Scot (Phillip Terry) is framed for murder, small-town girl Susan Webster (Ellen Drew) pleads with the court to show mercy, explaining her hard-luck story of being tricked into a life of prostitution by crime boss W.S. Bruhl (Paul Lukas). Unfortunately, due to some fancy talk by the District Attorney (Onslow Stevens), Scot is tossed in the clink and sentenced to death. On the eve of his execution, the hapless prisoner is visited by a mysterious Dr. Perry (George Zucco) who asks if he can have Scot’s brain for his radical experiments; frustrated and afraid, the condemned man grants permission – and wakes up with his brain inside of a gorilla! Instead of bananas, however, this particular ape now has a burning hunger for... revenge.