MIMSY FARMER RIDING DANA ANDREWS IN 'HOT RODS TO HELL'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYo0RjSrJW_f8dAsmObDRI0lS1tdv0UeVXwyAOnTE4bZbNcyHsm3-FiZlhPs5kZk9aO8cp_ewRr4scvYGfRgtbOMzBSgDmwGK_DS18tF9YwQGLuHttMMSNftrxtgoOqIr-WNkQHvos-Gz3O-WxwSjYEcr9_8hRAlI0Z0oy7Wu9TgQl9UE3AWOJMWYrFHZb/s1338/Screen%20Shot%202026-08-10%20at%201.29.33%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="830" data-original-width="1338" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYo0RjSrJW_f8dAsmObDRI0lS1tdv0UeVXwyAOnTE4bZbNcyHsm3-FiZlhPs5kZk9aO8cp_ewRr4scvYGfRgtbOMzBSgDmwGK_DS18tF9YwQGLuHttMMSNftrxtgoOqIr-WNkQHvos-Gz3O-WxwSjYEcr9_8hRAlI0Z0oy7Wu9TgQl9UE3AWOJMWYrFHZb/s1600/Screen%20Shot%202026-08-10%20at%201.29.33%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Mimy Farmer, Gene Kirkwood and Paul Bertoya in Hot Rods to Hell Year: 1966 Rating: ***1/2 </u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>"The horns blowing, the lights, the brakes," says a jaded and nerve-wracked wreck of a middle-aged former salesman Dana Andrews to wife Jeanne Crain. "Jingle bells (on the radio), the whole thing!" </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Yet HOT RODS TO HELL only <i>begins</i> as a Christmas movie after East Coast traveling-salesman Dana Andrews suffers a major car accident on December 24th, and, after months of traction, winds up with a motel in Arizona... But only IF he and his family can survive the red convertible (titular) menace with only 80 miles left to their new destination...</p><span></span>

action, cult, dana andrews, drive-in, gene kirkwood, george ives, jeanne crain, laurie mock, mimsy farmer, race, road movie, sixties

MIMSY FARMER RIDING DANA ANDREWS IN 'HOT RODS TO HELL'

Mimy Farmer, Gene Kirkwood and Paul Bertoya in Hot Rods to Hell Year: 1966 Rating: ***1/2 "The horns blowing, the lights, the brakes,...

PHILLAN BISHOP SCORING WILLARD HUYCK'S 'MESSIAH OF EVIL'

<p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5vyhyIkZe03K3Bfp14mfj6c3BClQSrI8yU-2FL6t1N4sFfndwzWoZvzhrm_ol7S6yQI1NeuS4KRB51RXJcNCj9wZwxib2rJsxvZzJLZlO85rjOCynDovpDBL1tdrqhyphenhyphenS4VaO1ZUI0apgKRFgUZhWETIQTu-YRfRJNT93o3Rqz7-jP3Vwt_v6XLhvm8MO2/s1712/Screen%20Shot%202026-07-24%20at%204.47.51%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1082" data-original-width="1712" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5vyhyIkZe03K3Bfp14mfj6c3BClQSrI8yU-2FL6t1N4sFfndwzWoZvzhrm_ol7S6yQI1NeuS4KRB51RXJcNCj9wZwxib2rJsxvZzJLZlO85rjOCynDovpDBL1tdrqhyphenhyphenS4VaO1ZUI0apgKRFgUZhWETIQTu-YRfRJNT93o3Rqz7-jP3Vwt_v6XLhvm8MO2/s1600/Screen%20Shot%202026-07-24%20at%204.47.51%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Joy Bang in MESSIAH OF EVIL Year: 1974 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>Married filmmakers (and AMERICAN GRAFFITI co-writers) Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz's arthouse horror MESSIAH OF EVIL has hauntingly gorgeous scream-queen Marianna Hill's narrated story-line about the search for her artist father at a beach community, pieced together in long sequences of gothic dialogue, neatly combined with three of the most eerily suspenseful moments of low-budget exploitation cinema... <br><br>Wherein monotone Michael Greer seems to be the title character, a tall stranger holed-up at her missing father's pad (his journals providing exposition) with two lovely girls, Anitra Ford and Joy Bang, each making their own separate horror-trope mistake of leaving an otherwise safe location to venture out alone... in this case into the small beach town, inland from a wave-lapping, moon-lit beach...</p><p><span></span></p>

anitra ford, body count, charles dierkop, cult, gloria katz, horror, joy bang, marianna hill, michael greer, phillan bishop, seventies, walter hill, williard huyck, zombie

PHILLAN BISHOP SCORING WILLARD HUYCK'S 'MESSIAH OF EVIL'

Joy Bang in MESSIAH OF EVIL Year: 1974 Rating: **** Married filmmakers (and AMERICAN GRAFFITI co-writers) Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz'...

ROBERT BLAKE COPPING THE COP CLASSIC 'ELECTRA GLIDE IN BLUE'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuk-bDsvzcI9-VPI05Sgzp4niDUp44OIjkOM3LK0NP6_9IsvlzSvUjTJFl3t986lkVzxOFS2pp29E2yQ5cphVqanwWgZH_H1lwFGWatDSpDB4Pr3r5AUZkDBPpKGO1dWonGoKKThnlt-nQcEiJw_UZF1WalMIrWiWEfrUxhGaC-CQgtaV6zvA6YKC_99Dd/s1806/Screen%20Shot%202026-07-07%20at%209.52.51%20PM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="804" data-original-width="1806" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuk-bDsvzcI9-VPI05Sgzp4niDUp44OIjkOM3LK0NP6_9IsvlzSvUjTJFl3t986lkVzxOFS2pp29E2yQ5cphVqanwWgZH_H1lwFGWatDSpDB4Pr3r5AUZkDBPpKGO1dWonGoKKThnlt-nQcEiJw_UZF1WalMIrWiWEfrUxhGaC-CQgtaV6zvA6YKC_99Dd/s1600/Screen%20Shot%202026-07-07%20at%209.52.51%20PM.png"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>title: ELECTRA GLIDE IN BLUE year: 1973 rating: ****1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>In 1973, cops got their very own EASY RIDER in ELECTRA GLIDE IN BLUE, both involving gorgeous, travelogue motorcycle rides past canyon horizons while the latter remains in one location — that seems eternal...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>As first-time director and cowboy movie lover James William Guercio... manager of the band Chicago... gets the best from Arizona's Monument Valley, where John Ford shot many John Wayne epics... </p><p><span></span></p>

action, billy green bush, cop, counter-culture, cult, mitchell ryan, modern western, nick nolte, robert blake, seventies

ROBERT BLAKE COPPING THE COP CLASSIC 'ELECTRA GLIDE IN BLUE'

title: ELECTRA GLIDE IN BLUE year: 1973 rating: ****1/2 In 1973, cops got their very own EASY RIDER in ELECTRA GLIDE IN BLUE, both involving...

MURRAY LANGSTON UNKNOWN TRILOGY INCLUDING 'NIGHT PATROL'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9-8W7qnc96S79clT44fiVOCjtmuEhW0zkzGvVII6XfCNG_yQIsm_77bzuQcESnkljXPu1Wuzd8WTTVqHzWxVuKq1EP4TFbzTd0xypEwIEoeWmGfCxU-jP0_Nh7AUfNBto6vzGwpzuhLrX02c6r3THpGgmL7UpVcSFwOsRFYdGxEStlf_SZiygUrIdKxqb/s852/1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="344" data-original-width="852" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9-8W7qnc96S79clT44fiVOCjtmuEhW0zkzGvVII6XfCNG_yQIsm_77bzuQcESnkljXPu1Wuzd8WTTVqHzWxVuKq1EP4TFbzTd0xypEwIEoeWmGfCxU-jP0_Nh7AUfNBto6vzGwpzuhLrX02c6r3THpGgmL7UpVcSFwOsRFYdGxEStlf_SZiygUrIdKxqb/s16000/1.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: NIGHT PATROL Year: 1984 Camp Value: ***<br></u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Murray Langston is not a hack comedian. Well actually, he is, deliberately... but when he appeared on stage for THE GONG SHOW, he was really a sack comedian: covering his face with a generic paper bag with poked holes for eyes and one for the mouth: And thus all those corny jokes became funnier, and with a skinny body nervously meandering around the stage, a cult star was born...<br><br>And eventually, finally unmasked, it was time for a motion picture... despite the fact that low-rent director Jackie Kong's NIGHT PATROL (written by Langston and GONG SHOW co-star Jaye P. Morgan) plays out like exactly what it has become: a straight-to-video train-wreck that only appears on cable stations well past midnight... <br></p><p><span></span></p>

andrew dice clay, billy barty, comedy, cop, cult, eighties, jack riley, jackie kong, jaye p. morgan, linda blair, lori sutton, lou mulford, michelle johnson, murray langston, parody, pat morita, pat paulsen

MURRAY LANGSTON UNKNOWN TRILOGY INCLUDING 'NIGHT PATROL'

Title: NIGHT PATROL Year: 1984 Camp Value: *** Murray Langston is not a hack comedian. Well actually, he is, deliberately... but when he app...

ERNEST SCHOEDSACK SHRINKS 'DR. CYCLOPS' WITH ALBERT DEKKER

<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1Jo9lUq-xqocSa4_gyLhj5RPRiTiD5bVNBOEFn2O6iOVGysUoRH7xtJxckpE5ldxmCQ8I-zF7ej78KVAIcH45CTNz0UAZdnewbk-qHfkPPoh1Kls-EI5CBh4CLMeeL2vBAjpPHLBBTsF32Ll2AWxVolW6ffCjMAHXeNVhsWCRyuRx3FA365Jvk_lU4PmC/s1646/Screen%20Shot%202025-12-25%20at%201.20.14%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1112" data-original-width="1646" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1Jo9lUq-xqocSa4_gyLhj5RPRiTiD5bVNBOEFn2O6iOVGysUoRH7xtJxckpE5ldxmCQ8I-zF7ej78KVAIcH45CTNz0UAZdnewbk-qHfkPPoh1Kls-EI5CBh4CLMeeL2vBAjpPHLBBTsF32Ll2AWxVolW6ffCjMAHXeNVhsWCRyuRx3FA365Jvk_lU4PmC/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-12-25%20at%201.20.14%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: DR. CYCLOPS Director: Ernest B. Schoedsack Year: 1940 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Merian C. Cooper, the executive producer and co-director of KING KONG, considered Ernest B. Schoedsack his "cameraman" when he was really not only co-director, but, while Cooper oversaw the special effects, much of the human element from performances to overall character-movement is all his own... </p><p></p><p>Deliberately slowing things down for the first science-fiction/horror in color, DR. CYCLOPS, that also begins a jungle-traipsing, matte-painted adventure including a gorgeous woman, her handsome boyfriend, a comic relief, a curious doctor, and an eccentric old-timer, all winding up in the compound of Albert Dekker's titular mad scientist...</p><p><span></span></p>

action, adventure, charles halton, cult, ernest schoedsack, forties, horror, janice logan, science-fiction, thomas coley

ERNEST SCHOEDSACK SHRINKS 'DR. CYCLOPS' WITH ALBERT DEKKER

Title: DR. CYCLOPS Director: Ernest B. Schoedsack Year: 1940 Rating: ***1/2 Merian C. Cooper, the executive producer and co-director of KING...

DEFENDING THE INFFAMOUS CAMP OF 'THE HORROR OF PARTY BEACH'

<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1G48r4kEzhKfVFyXv8UkDplCXhcaOGMw9igjiCvwuGBg-0zdjkWSj2l75C-iTJ92ibZLv4uWYzByqxzi8wlOHYx7u4DlLpJ41WFbIuARv4hUGyBhilZzRHFgyGDgbzQliafOdmiuNJt_EuFpEIC2B9RmQFa5GueBmgiJ0QjEhPNPEWLLFi-H_wmpSI4-Z/s1886/Screen%20Shot%202025-10-20%20at%208.37.55%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1106" data-original-width="1886" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1G48r4kEzhKfVFyXv8UkDplCXhcaOGMw9igjiCvwuGBg-0zdjkWSj2l75C-iTJ92ibZLv4uWYzByqxzi8wlOHYx7u4DlLpJ41WFbIuARv4hUGyBhilZzRHFgyGDgbzQliafOdmiuNJt_EuFpEIC2B9RmQFa5GueBmgiJ0QjEhPNPEWLLFi-H_wmpSI4-Z/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-10-20%20at%208.37.55%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: THE HORROR OF BLOOD BEACH Year: 1964 Camp Value: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Starting out one of those town-crashing 1960's biker flicks, quickly transforming into a WEST SIDE STORY rumble before blasting into a BEACH BLANKET BINGO musical, the camp-driven drive-in HORROR AT PARTY BEACH has flirtatious brunette Marilyn Clarke causing good guy local John Lyon and angry biker Agustin Mayor to fight... </p><p></p><p>She's like Janet Leigh from PSYCHO, seeming like the main character before foreshadowing Crissie Watkins in JAWS, quickly murdered in the water (actually a rocky atoll) by one of the goofiest looking monster-costume-antagonists ever...</p><p><span></span></p>

cult, del tenney, exploitation, horror, music, science-fiction, sixties, slasher, surf, thriller, wayne tippit

DEFENDING THE INFFAMOUS CAMP OF 'THE HORROR OF PARTY BEACH'

Title: THE HORROR OF BLOOD BEACH Year: 1964 Camp Value: ***1/2 Starting out one of those town-crashing 1960's biker flicks, quickly tran...

JUNE KENNEY AND JOHN AGAR IN 'ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE'

<p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjErLIp6miW_2uL0Mcb_TE_fmb_7Azuu3FHjMgIbxrOgTyjo1dUXG5ulDkgeZ3qplmF_zzSIu5KxyjECOvc4HVOynsJKC4krhQVpbwXR6qHzJpVp2i7Cyjh_I_0_sjxooVla0yUjXVeqEo98TGYhNFoOOL70CSYbLSTJ91BsOSfZS9HLNaukNbhWYNjRt4/s1160/Screen%20Shot%202025-10-06%20at%209.01.36%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="626" data-original-width="1160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjErLIp6miW_2uL0Mcb_TE_fmb_7Azuu3FHjMgIbxrOgTyjo1dUXG5ulDkgeZ3qplmF_zzSIu5KxyjECOvc4HVOynsJKC4krhQVpbwXR6qHzJpVp2i7Cyjh_I_0_sjxooVla0yUjXVeqEo98TGYhNFoOOL70CSYbLSTJ91BsOSfZS9HLNaukNbhWYNjRt4/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-10-06%20at%209.01.36%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>June Kenney in Attack of the Puppet People Year: 1958 Rates: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>A better-suited title for ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE would be A CASE OF DOLLS and <i>literally</i> as dollmaker John Hoyt places real people, from strangers to former employees to, as tiny hero  John Agar goes, an employee's fiance, into sealed packages, and all with one thing in common...</p><p></p><p></p><p>Their last mistake was entering the dollmarker's backroom where a sci-fi genre laser-cannon awaits; and although director Bert I. Gordon — aptly nicknamed Mr. Big since his forte was either extra large/small protagonists in a normal sized world — is known as being campy and silly, he can tell a pretty decent story, and this is one of his best, save for that vapid title since they're NOT Puppets and never attack anyone, being totally harmless as the best sequence has the passive ensemble realizing they're all stuck together in a world that consists of a huge dial-up telephone and a phonograph... </p><p><span></span></p>

bert i. gordon, cult, exploitation, fifties, horror, jack kosslyn, john agar, john hoyt, june joceyln, june kenney, ken miller, science-fiction

JUNE KENNEY AND JOHN AGAR IN 'ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE'

June Kenney in Attack of the Puppet People Year: 1958 Rates: **** A better-suited title for ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE would be A CASE OF D...

PETER SELLERS GETS COMPLETELY VICIOUS FOR 'NEVER LET GO'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ25rr2pF2qJtlCIQVTUScOKR4NHlt0dJXzRnFWw_iMDJMApT9Iy619nMrAsX8LmmTZPclzVX9Tm8q7LYTSlZQVl74khQYzKNpCBv0Sk-ho5u-t6En76jk9O842R87u_Ec-tjDa94e1rjwsY6X07wO_u6FKF-127WIB7mVAKq4gyZPn04HrEzRw6yvUr4g/s1570/Screen%20Shot%202025-06-21%20at%208.17.30%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="964" data-original-width="1570" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ25rr2pF2qJtlCIQVTUScOKR4NHlt0dJXzRnFWw_iMDJMApT9Iy619nMrAsX8LmmTZPclzVX9Tm8q7LYTSlZQVl74khQYzKNpCBv0Sk-ho5u-t6En76jk9O842R87u_Ec-tjDa94e1rjwsY6X07wO_u6FKF-127WIB7mVAKq4gyZPn04HrEzRw6yvUr4g/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-06-21%20at%208.17.30%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>David Lodge and Peter Sellers in NEVER LET GO Year: 1960 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>A British Neo Noir cross between DEATH OF A SALESMAN before and DEATH WISH after, John Guillermin made NEVER LET GO the same year as THE DAY THEY ROBBED THE BANK OF ENGLAND, only a car's worth much less than an entire country's bullion vault... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>But don't tell that to desperate cosmetics salesman Richard Todd, whose old fashioned, pseudo-charming client-pressuring style goes against the company's new-fangled <i>scientific methods</i>... </p><p><span></span></p>

adam faith, british neo noir, british new wave, carol white, crime, cult, david gregory, david lodge, elizabeth sellars, john guillermin, peter sellers, revenge, richard todd, teddy boys, thriller

PETER SELLERS GETS COMPLETELY VICIOUS FOR 'NEVER LET GO'

David Lodge and Peter Sellers in NEVER LET GO Year: 1960 Rating: **** A British Neo Noir cross between DEATH OF A SALESMAN before and DEATH ...

PETER SELLERS, BRITT EKLAND & VICTOR MATURE 'AFTER THE FOX'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik2yYKAeosus31RNiQfBZPjomm1z3tiMeeSDhCjGpE9pnvDoddXutx5iuNnvsaWGRdeAM25WChylhc_CsbsUw_TUivXuuMzb7r2chOqWx1SffFIcsZ1B7vH9Omj8AmCGt4RIsk-nWK4BzKdWHU95wwT9I6dsC04USv_mps2bf8i0oRRy5JazDFTBrCibjV/s1604/Screen%20Shot%202025-07-02%20at%206.25.54%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="812" data-original-width="1604" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik2yYKAeosus31RNiQfBZPjomm1z3tiMeeSDhCjGpE9pnvDoddXutx5iuNnvsaWGRdeAM25WChylhc_CsbsUw_TUivXuuMzb7r2chOqWx1SffFIcsZ1B7vH9Omj8AmCGt4RIsk-nWK4BzKdWHU95wwT9I6dsC04USv_mps2bf8i0oRRy5JazDFTBrCibjV/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-07-02%20at%206.25.54%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: AFTER THE FOX Year: 1966 Rates: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Victor Mature plays an aged, has-been actor who spends so much time bickering with agent Martin Balsam about doing or <i>not</i> doing a French existential film, you'll simply want things to narrow into what the <i>real</i> movie's about as AFTER THE FOX doesn't mean <i>what follows</i> but <i>who's followin</i>g Peter Sellers' criminal named Fox, who broke out of prison, in disguise, and there's plenty of humor but not enough laughs... <br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Shame since the cinematography's so gorgeous, a satire on the pretentious side of 1960's French New Wave cinema, ironically directed by 1950's minimalist BICYCLE THIEVES auteur Vittorio De Sica, not allowing either his funny guy (Sellers) or straight man (Mature) enough time together... </p><p><span></span></p>

akim tamiroff, brit ekland, british, comedy, cult, french, heist, jailbreak, maria grazia buccella, peter sellers, post-heist, satire, sixties, victor mature

PETER SELLERS, BRITT EKLAND & VICTOR MATURE 'AFTER THE FOX'

Title: AFTER THE FOX Year: 1966 Rates: *** Victor Mature plays an aged, has-been actor who spends so much time bickering with agent Martin B...

PRODUCER WILLIAM ALLAND PRESENTS 'THE DEADLY MANTIS'

<p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgye4zQbbXK4qSDkqmTIIYM0BqyqH7pE7UbGqGPRRDuz_5z16l9DxEPJqbFcb9eK8qt17VHMG2hRVYmEqmUW-Te4Hm2u1bj-S-CvNzzMoODIwJQOJe3xgUkeERgHc7FuPojruVUFX4JcI9uxyS9nUIPNoxfj7Nq92V_PGHI5D0jUyzznxGiG4-9GOfauwru/s1920/Screen%20Shot%202025-02-04%20at%208.44.58%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="906" data-original-width="1920" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgye4zQbbXK4qSDkqmTIIYM0BqyqH7pE7UbGqGPRRDuz_5z16l9DxEPJqbFcb9eK8qt17VHMG2hRVYmEqmUW-Te4Hm2u1bj-S-CvNzzMoODIwJQOJe3xgUkeERgHc7FuPojruVUFX4JcI9uxyS9nUIPNoxfj7Nq92V_PGHI5D0jUyzznxGiG4-9GOfauwru/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-02-04%20at%208.44.58%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: THE DEADLY MANTIS Year: 1956 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Various military compounds are attacked by an unseen yet formidable menace — an impenetrable force of some kind, and, in that, only the title reveals the deck — the first half playing out like a mystery rather than a creature-feature, and these are the most effective scenes — TV's PERRY MASON towering gumshoe William Hopper is the only Scientist that may be able to learn the source of what's leftover from a wrecked plane: a piece of whatever had obviously caused it...<br> </p><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: right;"> </div><p> The interior shots are effective in sparse B&W, making terrific use of scientific knowledge spouted from Hopper with confident-until-she's-terrified ingenue Alix Talton at his side — how the mysterious cause of destruction is... through pages of exposition, narrowed down into an insect feels like a rare science class that won't put you to sleep...</p><p><span></span></p>

alix talton, craig stevens, creature, cult, fifties, nathan juran, pat conway, science-fiction, william alland, william hopper

PRODUCER WILLIAM ALLAND PRESENTS 'THE DEADLY MANTIS'

Title: THE DEADLY MANTIS Year: 1956 Rating: **** Various military compounds are attacked by an unseen yet formidable menace — an impenetrab...

NEDA ARNERIC SPREADS 'VENOM' IN 'THE LEGEND OF SPIDER FOREST'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhzanOkC1P0rZLkGQFEj_9vZPfK1AxtHmiQ0rL5_aAnr7zYtgC_hLnXLK9CZptSOGpRPMNAakzdd5iHtbJLOIzyZbth7sUqz9qHCYEtatKwmaYrdb7AxX_zkVMgFsK2sm4Dg0BER4R-U86rv8OshWcybp-MiK0r6p-RlbKHnq04AdE7onjTZWlrOLPFriI/s1042/1%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="572" data-original-width="1042" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhzanOkC1P0rZLkGQFEj_9vZPfK1AxtHmiQ0rL5_aAnr7zYtgC_hLnXLK9CZptSOGpRPMNAakzdd5iHtbJLOIzyZbth7sUqz9qHCYEtatKwmaYrdb7AxX_zkVMgFsK2sm4Dg0BER4R-U86rv8OshWcybp-MiK0r6p-RlbKHnq04AdE7onjTZWlrOLPFriI/s16000/1%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Neda Americ in VENOM Alternate: THE LEGEND OF SPIDER FOREST Year: 1971 Rating: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>After the grainy, low-budget VENOM aka THE LEGEND OF SPIDER FOREST, British director Peter Sykes landed a job for legendary British horror production Hammer for <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/02/BEAT-hammer-GIRL.html">DEMONS OF THE MIND</a>, with more money, bigger names and continuing the psychological-horror sub-genre, only VENOM is a lot more affective... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Mostly set in a tree-shrouded, shade-soaked, shadow-splintered forest where lovely Neda Arneric (a combination of Sarah Miles and Mia Farrow) plays Anna, a nature-traipsing wild girl with an enigmatic spider tattoo on her shoulder, following bland/handsome journalist Simon Brent around until he winds up, seemingly safe in a local tavern where, once back in the forest, he has more problems connected to a gang of muscularly rural locals liken to the 60's British thriller <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2022/05/shuttered.html">THE SHUTTERED ROOM</a>, only these guys are no (and there really needed someone intriguing like an) Oliver Reed...</p><p><span></span></p>

british, cult, horror, neda arneric, peter sykes, rural, seventies, sheila allen, simon brent, spiders

NEDA ARNERIC SPREADS 'VENOM' IN 'THE LEGEND OF SPIDER FOREST'

Neda Americ in VENOM Alternate: THE LEGEND OF SPIDER FOREST Year: 1971 Rating: *** After the grainy, low-budget VENOM aka THE LEGEND OF SPID...

SUSAN TYRRELL STALKING 'BUTCHER, BAKER, NIGHTMARE MAKER'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjngIv32KtZKRhb8dhnUTFSAJ-t-_2CyCskl21Ujeu2WWv_f6QfIFZ71kvr5FdBLHyI1v6KBbodPY9-9cm26Ms-X3DfxQlyQamnzAp5uQvnQSijQYT5aEOT_HLX8u9ufZZTwCHnDjGFA5LLbfOgs3VtfKLUEZKi6QrIoUuk0TYZmSWSQgXtmwzMAcjDW-nF/s1918/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-21%20at%203.54.32%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="952" data-original-width="1918" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjngIv32KtZKRhb8dhnUTFSAJ-t-_2CyCskl21Ujeu2WWv_f6QfIFZ71kvr5FdBLHyI1v6KBbodPY9-9cm26Ms-X3DfxQlyQamnzAp5uQvnQSijQYT5aEOT_HLX8u9ufZZTwCHnDjGFA5LLbfOgs3VtfKLUEZKi6QrIoUuk0TYZmSWSQgXtmwzMAcjDW-nF/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-21%20at%203.54.32%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: BUTCHER, BAKER, NIGHTMARE MAKER Year: 1981 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Somewhat misleadingly billed as a straight-out horror, and with an exploitation title to get people into the theater, BUTCHER, BAKER, NIGHTMARE MAKER (having nothing to do with the story) has one important element that makes it more suspenseful thriller than body-count chiller... <br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>And that's Susan Tyrrell, who, looking as if Golden Age starlet Gloria Grahame suffered an eternal hangover, could play hag-characters so realistically grotesque, she devours the scenery just by showing up... even though, in this case, she's not technically the main character, provided here by athletically-innocent high-schooler Jimmy McNichol, who was mostly famous for having a far more famous sister... </p><p><span></span></p>

bill paxton, bo svenson, cult, drama, eighties, exploitation, horror, jimmy mcnichol, julia duffy, susan tyrrell, thriller

SUSAN TYRRELL STALKING 'BUTCHER, BAKER, NIGHTMARE MAKER'

Title: BUTCHER, BAKER, NIGHTMARE MAKER Year: 1981 Rating: ***1/2 Somewhat misleadingly billed as a straight-out horror, and with an exploita...

TUESDAY WELD KILLS 'PRETTY POISON' WITH ANTHONY PERKINS

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEine9DCcW5wKhwAsptIWJ7hJ4NA8T2LUAuU7gZJlIN9hGv-wyX64mjZu33foXQT_hSPD5FrgIPWvSbKeFiccV6NnqtKf9g-a3_-DhbAWzdZwiHKn0xQNpMU9brJBImDf6omwxMmBQ6keRL_vsVcslUbL4BHktZywODqwL2kNOkqqsvlwDcReCYQXSKOp6b7/s2148/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-15%20at%2011.26.17%20PM%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1192" data-original-width="2148" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEine9DCcW5wKhwAsptIWJ7hJ4NA8T2LUAuU7gZJlIN9hGv-wyX64mjZu33foXQT_hSPD5FrgIPWvSbKeFiccV6NnqtKf9g-a3_-DhbAWzdZwiHKn0xQNpMU9brJBImDf6omwxMmBQ6keRL_vsVcslUbL4BHktZywODqwL2kNOkqqsvlwDcReCYQXSKOp6b7/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-12-15%20at%2011.26.17%20PM%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Anthony Perkins and Tuesday Weld in PRETTY POISON Year: 1968 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>In Alfred Hitchcock's PSYCHO, few women were safe around Anthony Perkins... and in PRETTY POISON, gorgeous young blonde Tuesday Weld turns tables after seeming to fall in love with Perkins' Dennis Pitt, ironically just freed from a mental institution (because of a childhood arson) and, working for a chemical company, his fantastical symptoms persist in that he thinks himself a secret agent...</p><p></p><p></p><p>Yet the plot's not what <i>he</i> thinks but what Weld's high-schooler Sue Ann Stepanek buys into... progressing from a kind of LILITH style young-lovers arthouse romance to a dark-comedy/drama far ahead of its time, setting the stage for BADLANDS and Quentin Tarantino's script of NATURAL BORN KILLERS...</p><p><span></span></p>

anthony perkins, cult, dark comedy, drama, john randolph, ken kercheval, sixties, thriller, tuesday weld

TUESDAY WELD KILLS 'PRETTY POISON' WITH ANTHONY PERKINS

Anthony Perkins and Tuesday Weld in PRETTY POISON Year: 1968 Rating: **** In Alfred Hitchcock's PSYCHO, few women were safe around Antho...

LANCE GUEST WITH ROBERT PRESTON IN 'THE LAST STARFIGHTER'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipGiYCQfl5g-_AoEQ_Z_SksNItElfanALiYJFj9O5YhVF7E3JA7rBvmQcxSh92MZwVp9MfZYIWwBTXv0tsM3D8e_HNV7IdMtEtgZImvxqjhc1lxu7woT1-haf46Ib32yMbQDs05NuqTR_WW051Jog9TNlzL-RAmgRVjGxILZ7Ugbq0jikyhyphenhyphenTAelZCSXCx/s929/Screen%20Shot%202024-11-04%20at%208.10.47%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="464" data-original-width="929" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipGiYCQfl5g-_AoEQ_Z_SksNItElfanALiYJFj9O5YhVF7E3JA7rBvmQcxSh92MZwVp9MfZYIWwBTXv0tsM3D8e_HNV7IdMtEtgZImvxqjhc1lxu7woT1-haf46Ib32yMbQDs05NuqTR_WW051Jog9TNlzL-RAmgRVjGxILZ7Ugbq0jikyhyphenhyphenTAelZCSXCx/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-11-04%20at%208.10.47%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: THE LAST STARFIGHTER Year: 1984 Rating: ***1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The connection of THREE AMIGOS, GALAXY QUEST and TROPIC THUNDER... of actors thinking they're taking part in just another paid gig that turns out to be incredibly real and dangerous... in a way began with Nick Castle's THE LAST STARFIGHTER where Lance Guest plays the oldest son of a trailer park landlady... in the kind of lonely Middle American town that Steven Spielberg practically created for CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (and a bit like the "there's something better somewhere else" planet of Tattooine in STAR WARS)...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Castle includes other Speilbergian touches, like a highway speed-limit-sign rattling from the power of a spaceship.... here belonging to scene-stealer Robert Preston, who, with his signature speaking voice that practically sings every line, is beyond perfect as the pre BACK TO THE FUTURE DeLoreon-driving alien-in-human-form recruiter for an actual "star war" that Guest's Alex Rogen is hired to fight in...</p><span></span>

action, catherine mary stewart, cult, dan o'herlihy, fantasy, lance guest, nick castle, robert preston, rural, science-fiction, war

LANCE GUEST WITH ROBERT PRESTON IN 'THE LAST STARFIGHTER'

Title: THE LAST STARFIGHTER Year: 1984 Rating: ***1/2 The connection of THREE AMIGOS, GALAXY QUEST and TROPIC THUNDER... of actors thinking ...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN FROM 'THE BEACH GIRLS AND THE MONSTER'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQgKyYnqwp7vJmMqtrELVasQiUVqOXrcHQ5aqxQT39x2ns69PxahVpcuE6m4ZL6rHEC9HgqI6zNSc2PANrvwpG0J2JY9z7WeRyjVJViBttY4aQMZijSWxY_i63F5orJel6XVriCCUlFyhXMSx2zA30n0NfbBRZgXS4E7YK35YVh9Qf-0scRhd6hoeAMJlS/s1566/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-30%20at%2011.57.56%20PM%202%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="942" data-original-width="1566" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQgKyYnqwp7vJmMqtrELVasQiUVqOXrcHQ5aqxQT39x2ns69PxahVpcuE6m4ZL6rHEC9HgqI6zNSc2PANrvwpG0J2JY9z7WeRyjVJViBttY4aQMZijSWxY_i63F5orJel6XVriCCUlFyhXMSx2zA30n0NfbBRZgXS4E7YK35YVh9Qf-0scRhd6hoeAMJlS/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-30%20at%2011.57.56%20PM%202%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: THE BEACH GIRLS AND THE MONSTER Year: 1965 Camp Value: ***</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>One of those b-movies that's so extremely/noticeably low budget it's almost a z-movie, bordering on what looks like snuff film footage while coming out right before the hippie 1960's was fully ignited...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>So the even-then-old-school surf guitar soundtrack for THE BEACH GIRLS AND THE MONSTER is more loose and groovy than usual, even when a monster so fake it's intentionally hilarious starts murdering hot bikini babes right on the beach, even in the daylight... </p><span></span>

beach, body count, cult, elaine dupont, horror, monster, sixties, sue casey, walker edmiston

HAPPY HALLOWEEN FROM 'THE BEACH GIRLS AND THE MONSTER'

Title: THE BEACH GIRLS AND THE MONSTER Year: 1965 Camp Value: *** One of those b-movies that's so extremely/noticeably low budget it...

RALPH BAKSHI BEGNNING WITH ROBERT CRUMB'S 'FRITZ THE CAT'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRYoE170NZNfTV-Tsj0etrr7nG-SWcJ3pfoX3NL1pfKpKYh3VC5ivQkRTlLVHijjd5LWcb4y4Evjs_hyXH4L_U4qkkBN2R72XhzAsRMvjQpllg5uq6PsFqrp2BPLSmARwJfPU_2LPfMkTXnL8e3_TYwDtKByH-xX9fC2iR4lI-NrTcDFDfIsKJfjmZHm5n/s2570/1%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1198" data-original-width="2570" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRYoE170NZNfTV-Tsj0etrr7nG-SWcJ3pfoX3NL1pfKpKYh3VC5ivQkRTlLVHijjd5LWcb4y4Evjs_hyXH4L_U4qkkBN2R72XhzAsRMvjQpllg5uq6PsFqrp2BPLSmARwJfPU_2LPfMkTXnL8e3_TYwDtKByH-xX9fC2iR4lI-NrTcDFDfIsKJfjmZHm5n/s16000/1%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: FRITZ THE CAT Year: 1971 Rating: **</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Ralph Bakshi progressed from children's cartoons in the 1960's into adapting underground comic-book artist Robert Crumb's underground anti-hero feline FRITZ THE CAT in 1971... </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Thus turning on stoned teenagers (who had once been kids watching SPIDER-MAN and ROCKET ROBIN HOOD) with lots of naked animal characters, ranging from a group of pretentious liberal co-eds to black revolutionary crows to a rugged road trip involving a Nazi rabbit biker and...</p><p><span></span></p>

animation, college, counter-culture, cult, exploitation, ralph bakshi, road movie, robert crumb, seventies

RALPH BAKSHI BEGNNING WITH ROBERT CRUMB'S 'FRITZ THE CAT'

Title: FRITZ THE CAT Year: 1971 Rating: ** Ralph Bakshi progressed from children's cartoons in the 1960's into adapting underground ...

RALPH BAKSHI BLAXPLOITATION-ANIMATION OF 'COONSKIN'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNboiGSYBo9CItym2nA3XC4Zjmq90WfY9PCPSMDZHfqX7UwyEHmwoX1RA1DoUPXwisNrnQOXR3MLgDyF0fL2ipalo4Ct3yqxF93kSPpJEweOl5IMBQiZ1OY56pvHPyw_hrytfaORAnB2xcLxwFC-Mg39CcXuGr9jYpcjBIIspSJSq9-KSrkusYmfdVNCOW/s2134/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-13%20at%208.30.51%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1086" data-original-width="2134" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNboiGSYBo9CItym2nA3XC4Zjmq90WfY9PCPSMDZHfqX7UwyEHmwoX1RA1DoUPXwisNrnQOXR3MLgDyF0fL2ipalo4Ct3yqxF93kSPpJEweOl5IMBQiZ1OY56pvHPyw_hrytfaORAnB2xcLxwFC-Mg39CcXuGr9jYpcjBIIspSJSq9-KSrkusYmfdVNCOW/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-13%20at%208.30.51%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: COONSKIN aka STREET FIGHT Director: Ralph Bakshi Year: 1975 Rating: **1/2</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>After <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2024/10/htraffic.html">HEAVY TRAFFIC</a> where cult director Ralph Bakshi inserted cartoon characters with actual urban backdrops, he went to the next level, combining character-driven live-action in what begins a super-low-budget blaxploitation prison-break that just might've been something on its own... <br></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>As hidden escapees Philip Michael Thomas and the narrating Scatman Crothers await friends Barry White and Charles Gordone to pick them up, Crothers tells a story based on SONG OF THE SOUTH: transforming into a symbolic cartoon with Thomas as a skinny/slinky Rabbit; Barry White a gigantic Bear; and Gordone a preaching Fox...</p><p><span></span></p>

animation, barry white, blaxploitation, cult, philip michael thomas, scatman crothers, seventies

RALPH BAKSHI BLAXPLOITATION-ANIMATION OF 'COONSKIN'

Title: COONSKIN aka STREET FIGHT Director: Ralph Bakshi Year: 1975 Rating: **1/2 After HEAVY TRAFFIC where cult director Ralph Bakshi inser...

RALPH BAKSHI COUNTER-CULTURE ANIMATION 'HEAVY TRAFFIC'

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVeNZJxi6vzm7B3a6f7nqLy_XyfnWH2nJy-zHJzps95dLmExCT3LryqZ4v4RaGAzC67k9zCFfneUqBB2h3nghp-0lU5TQ8o6cDvQaIcSXOFDtwiFThBve_OFvw9RbrRPZt5bBIn1YcasE1JOM2gPg4I6XceBZFnXDPVrC5XJcYfvA7mpDNx2xek7YCQY50/s2141/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-13%20at%202.15.59%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1062" data-original-width="2141" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVeNZJxi6vzm7B3a6f7nqLy_XyfnWH2nJy-zHJzps95dLmExCT3LryqZ4v4RaGAzC67k9zCFfneUqBB2h3nghp-0lU5TQ8o6cDvQaIcSXOFDtwiFThBve_OFvw9RbrRPZt5bBIn1YcasE1JOM2gPg4I6XceBZFnXDPVrC5XJcYfvA7mpDNx2xek7YCQY50/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-13%20at%202.15.59%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: HEAVY TRAFFIC Director: Ralph Bakshi Year: 1973 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Double-irony of Ralph Bashki's urban-animated HEAVY TRAFFIC in that he turned down making the sequel to his previous years' surprise blockbuster FRITZ THE CAT, based on Robert Crumb's underground comic, and chose to do a story that actually involves a young underground comic, who's not even known enough to be unknown, or even underground... and both the style of this very feature and the fictional artist's work is also very similar to Crumb's...<br><br>That aside, HEAVY solely belongs to Bakshi, who began his process of combining live-action footage along with animation... framed by a sporadic pinball game in process, representing the downtown world where characters bounce around spontaneously...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><span></span></p>

animation, counter-culture, cult, ralph bakshi, seventies

RALPH BAKSHI COUNTER-CULTURE ANIMATION 'HEAVY TRAFFIC'

Title: HEAVY TRAFFIC Director: Ralph Bakshi Year: 1973 Rating: **** Double-irony of Ralph Bashki's urban-animated HEAVY TRAFFIC in that ...

NAKEDLY INGITING THE ANIMATED CULT CLASSIC 'HEAVY METAL'

<p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheV5gkvmm7SKxgTNhsioZ_Em5Lb5YruyixUkWho-peYe6hcMbmYDFf_cTPianjNUYuR19Pr1X6dCiDrs1AcPCd7-6clEDce3st3tOT7ejzJmnyr9KklVwsx4Dn1TBBsEigSVNjsSwtVOoDnHxkhg7ZdZkQgfgz-toJgB9kjwJY1n0CYix-VU8zrtMWlZTr/s1664/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-07%20at%2011.43.15%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="898" data-original-width="1664" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheV5gkvmm7SKxgTNhsioZ_Em5Lb5YruyixUkWho-peYe6hcMbmYDFf_cTPianjNUYuR19Pr1X6dCiDrs1AcPCd7-6clEDce3st3tOT7ejzJmnyr9KklVwsx4Dn1TBBsEigSVNjsSwtVOoDnHxkhg7ZdZkQgfgz-toJgB9kjwJY1n0CYix-VU8zrtMWlZTr/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-07%20at%2011.43.15%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Title: HEAVY METAL Year: 1981 Rating: ****</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The best two stories from HEAVY METAL... producer Ivan Reitman's animated/cartoon anthology with a continuously-pulsating soundtrack of acts ranging from Devo to Sammy Hagar to Don Felder to Donald Fagan to Black Sabbath... have a beginning, middle and end, and either could have stretched into full-length features: starting with a futuristic film-noir homage with modernly-grungy cab-driver HARRY CANYON (voiced by <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2019/08/goodstreets.html">MEAN STREETS</a> actor Richard Romanus) that includes the usual pulp-signature glib narration, chain-smoked cigarettes, crooked cops, flying cars above grounded savage hoodlums and a luscious backstabbing dame...<br></p><p></p><p></p><p>And the last a fantasy... in the mesmerizing otherworld style of Roger Dean's progressive-rock album covers combined with Ralph Bakshi's animated-fantasy-flicks <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2024/10/LOTR78.html">THE LORD OF THE RINGS</a> and WIZARDS (while the urban-noir resembles Bakshi's <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2024/10/htraffic.html">HEAVY TRAFFIC</a>)... that gave this 1981 cult classic its gorgeous flying-avian-riding poster-girl TAARNA who, sword in hand, violently protects a village like an antihero from a Spaghetti Western...</p><p><span></span></p>

action, animation, cult, eighties, exploitation, fantasy, future, harold ramis, ivan reitman, john candy, music, neo noir, richard romanus, science-fiction

NAKEDLY INGITING THE ANIMATED CULT CLASSIC 'HEAVY METAL'

Title: HEAVY METAL Year: 1981 Rating: **** The best two stories from HEAVY METAL... producer Ivan Reitman's animated/cartoon anthology w...

KATHRYN GRANT 'THE NIGHT THE WORLD EXPLODED' WILLIAM LESLIE

<p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHxtsevWVxZnYI1rqgFmjukJvXkfVctiKkwSPGP4PgasU3cfPcUFLaMZSGODmaKb_EjwtodC-saEgc1DPaBjyVxm49_xGo_cqNxiTP8kOsArXlWvN5BGx9jBjSEh6JkXJMVYkxhhTUY0OXhB77ha5dSXs4YMNZqrPSIY3gw3TfVnC6CSoGdrMKtPrOoAlU/s1201/Screen%20Shot%202024-09-29%20at%2010.22.05%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="788" data-original-width="1201" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHxtsevWVxZnYI1rqgFmjukJvXkfVctiKkwSPGP4PgasU3cfPcUFLaMZSGODmaKb_EjwtodC-saEgc1DPaBjyVxm49_xGo_cqNxiTP8kOsArXlWvN5BGx9jBjSEh6JkXJMVYkxhhTUY0OXhB77ha5dSXs4YMNZqrPSIY3gw3TfVnC6CSoGdrMKtPrOoAlU/s320/Screen%20Shot%202024-09-29%20at%2010.22.05%20PM.jpeg" width="320"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>Year: 1957 Rating: **</u></td></tr></tbody></table><p>There's a scene in otherwise underrated b-movie director Fred F. Sear's 1950's science-fiction disaster flick THE NIGHT THE WORLD EXPLODED where lovely actress Kathryn Grant (who he had directed in the film noir biopic <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2021/04/cell.html">CELL 2455 DEATH ROW</a>), soon to be known as Kathryn Crosby after marrying legendary WHITE CHRISTMAS crooner Bing Crosby, is beautifully pouting with her insanely-gorgeous full lips...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Actually, despite being surprisingly first-billed, that's pretty much every scene she's in in this early "we're to blame for the earth's inevitable demise" melodrama, with only a few exterior shots of archive footage and where most of the time's spent in a clean office or grungy tunnel while blandly-handsome scientist William Leslie's being constantly... pouted at by that gorgeous assistant who silently adores (and is burdened with the desire to connect with) him... only there got an entire WORLD to save and enough lectures to make EXPLODED more drowsy motion than the supposed action built into a misleading title that's (other than Kathryn) the best thing going. <br></p><p><span></span></p>

cult, disaster, fifties, fred f. sears, kathryn grant, melodrama, race against time, william leslie

KATHRYN GRANT 'THE NIGHT THE WORLD EXPLODED' WILLIAM LESLIE

Year: 1957 Rating: ** There's a scene in otherwise underrated b-movie director Fred F. Sear's 1950's science-fiction disaster fl...