Rattlers (1976)

3 / 5 Jul '11
Tagline: N/A
Directed by: John McCauley
Written by: John McCauley, Jerry Golding
Actors include: Sam Chew Jr., Elisabeth Chauvet, Dan Priest
Genre: Horror
Length: 82 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
Somehow it's very watchable sleaze which producer Harry Novak definitely specializes in. It's obviously a cheaply made picture with sub-par actors but who cares....does one really expect more from a film like this? The first half is actually quite fun with one snake attack after the next (before the title credits we get to see children slide into a rattler pit....how is that not awesome?). Then we meet Herpetologist Dr. Tom Parkinson who of course specializes in the study of snakes. Since fluke snake bites have been on the rise, he's been called in along with an attractive photographer to investigate. When they start with the romance montages things really start sliding downhill but it's silly enough that it's almost laughable. Speaking of which....may I just throw out there that there is a scene where they shoot up snakes in a tent! Though this will never be considered a classic, that scene alone is worthy of a late night viewing.

Availability:  On DVD

...E Tanta Paura (1976) aka Plot Of Fear

3.5 / 5 Nov '11
Tagline: N/A
Directed by: Paolo Cavara
Written by: Paolo Cavara, Enrico Oldoini
Actors include: Corinne Clery, Michele Placido, Quinto Parmeggiani
Genre: Giallo, Horror, Mystery
Length: 98 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
Although not one of the classic giallo films, this still has some memorable moments and is a reasonably entertaining entry although it's seldom mentioned. It's relatively well filmed and it appears to have a budget and is rather well made. The story involves a murderer who is leaving illustrations from a child's book with the victims. We also follow around the detectives who are trying to solve the crime of course. The story involves sex, weird parties, violence, mystery and even some gore...it has all the successful trappings of the genre. It even for some reason has appearances by Tom Skerritt and Eli Wallach in this film. It's easy enough to watch and it comes together nicely enough in the end. Definitely one for Ital sleaze fans to check out, but beware! There is an edited version floating around with far less murder footage in it.

Availability:  non USA DVD only

The Little Girl Who Lives Down The Lane (1976)

4 / 5 Nov '10
Tagline: Ask Her No Questions And Nobody Dies.
Directed by: Nicolas Gessner
Written by: Laird Koenig
Actors include: Jodie Foster, Scott Jacoby, Martin Sheen
Genre: Thriller, Drama, Horror
Banned: Nope

Review:
This is one unusual yet likeable '70s film with impressive acting and a compelling story. Jodie Foster is the star of this one playing a brilliant and independent 13 year old girl named Rynn. She's tougher than nails, and cunning all because she has to keep her secret...even if it means murder! It's not just a horror film, in fact it's very psychological and plot driven...heck in some ways it's a bizarre romance. Scott Jacoby (who played the lead in Bad Ronald) steals the show (which is impressive considering Foster's performance) as a dorky yet sweet magician called Mario who is Foster's romantic interest. She also has a problem with an obnoxious meddling neighbor/landlady and her perverted sadistic son Frank (Martin Sheen). In many ways this is exploitation, and apparently Foster didn't really like making this film because the director kept insisting on nudity from her (she was 14 I think at the time) but she resisted and her older sister was the stand-in for that scene. It goes where maybe one would think it wouldn't, but at the same time it's sort of a depressing film and a black comedy all at once too. Really quite a memorable and creative little film that deserves to be seen by any fan of '70s cinema, a really weird classic indeed.

Availability:  On DVD

Assault! Jack The Ripper (1976) aka Bôkô Kirisaki Jakku

3.5 / 5 Oct '10
Tagline: N/A
Directed by: Yasuharu Hasebe
Written by: Yasuharu Hasebe
Actors include: Yôko Azusa, Yutaka Hayashi, Tamaki Katsura
Genre: Horror, Exploitation, Adult
Length: 72 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
Well this definitely borders on being pornography which is not my thing but the demented plot made up for it for me. The story is about two people who work at the same restaurant together. As they are driving home together they come across a woman who they sort of accidentally end up killing and they find it makes for awesome sex together. So together they go out and kill people (by slicing them from the groin upwards) just to have great sex. When the Male starts going out for kills without the Female (who is a butter face) some jealousy is involved and things kind of get even insane from there. It's very graphic and rewarding in a sadistic horror sense, it also does seem to have a bit of a sense of humor which I think helped the movie as well. Definitely an exploitation film that won't be for everyone, but it's pretty entertaining in a sick way for those of us who aren't offended by much.

Availability:  On DVD

The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976)

3 / 5 Aug '10
Tagline: In 1946 this man killed five people... Today he still lurks the streets of Texarkana, Ark.
Directed by: Charles B. Pierce
Written by: Earl E. Smith
Actors include: Ben Johnson, Andrew Prine, Dawn Wells
Genre: Horror, Drama, Crime
Length: 90 minutes
Banned: nope

Review:
It's rather hard to rate this because the copy I watched was pretty poor, and the dark scenes were barely visible. I did catch what was going on of course, but it's hard to tell if it was just poorly filmed or rather the vhs copy from the '70s that my copy had been ripped from was just old. Oh well, the other thing is that parts of this film are impressive, I mean considering it predates the slasher craze it does have some shocking violence. The scenes that don't involve the creepy hooded killer are so beyond dull and cheesy that it's hard to wait them out. It's yammer yammer yammer, scooby doo music and Police follies which bore me to tears. Also the announcer that tried to make this look like a documentary kept laming things up, just when I'd forget about the stupidity of it it would pop back up and irritate me. I think there is a way this could have been executed like a documentary and it would have been scary (from the reports I read it really did frighten people in it's day), but this was not the way. It was set in the '40s and based upon a real murderer that wasn't caught that wore a hood on his head. The killing are very brutal, the car window and tree scenes must been seen, some violent stuff. It's just the rest is nearly pointless, I get that they wanted us to see what the community was up to but so very much of it was that and so very few were the cool moments. It is worthy of a viewing, but the great parts are really few and far between.

Availability:  Not on DVD

Expose (1976) aka The House On Straw Hill aka Trauma

3 / 5 Dec '09
Tagline: And you thought that other HOUSE was bad...
Directed by: James Kenelm Clarke
Written by: James Kenelm Clarke
Actors include: Udo Kier, Linda Hayden, Fiona Richmond
Genre: Horror
Length: 84 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
Yet another video nasty, this time I can't help but feeling like it was picked because of graphic nudity and sex rather than actual horror but there is some of that here too. Udo Kier plays a writer who seems to not have any respect for women (but I don't even think that is a plot point). He rents an isolated house to write a new novel, only he is having trouble writing so he decides to hire a secretary. The girl he chooses is quite lovely but something doesn't seem quite right about her. Sure she's great help and nice to look at but she pays the price when some local yokels try to attack her. Not being one to put up with that sort of thing, the story takes a rather bloody turn from that point on. The is one heck of a sleazy tale and it did have too much of that nonsense and a pointless lesbian encounter and so forth. You could easily remove a half hour of pointless nudity from this and you'd have a much better story. As is, I still thought it was okay, the story was reasonable and everything, just parts of it were irritating to have to sit through to get to the good stuff.

Availability:  On DVD (but OOP)

The Signalman (1976)

4.5 / 5 Dec '09
Tagline: N/A
Directed by: Lawrence Gordon Clark
Written by: Charles Dickens, Andrew Davies
Actors include: Denholm Elliott, Bernard Lloyd
Genre: Horror, Drama
Length: 37 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
Part of the UK's A Ghost Story For Christmas series and likely the best story of the lot (though I've only ever seen one other that was also quite good). It's a short period piece but it packs a nice little punch. We follow around a Signalman (bet you wouldn't have guessed that) who seems to be haunted by an image that appears when a disaster happens. This all started after he watched a nasty crash between two trains in a tunnel. He meets a friendly fellow and the two talk about life, work and become friends. It's more than just that though as the dreary ominous atmosphere builds into quite a wonderful flick. When you consider this will only take a little more than a half hour of your time and it's probably the best Christmas ghost story how could one say no?

Availability:  Currently Unavailable