cult film freak: michael murphy

Showing posts with label michael murphy. Show all posts

Written by James M. Tate / 6/27/2025 / No comments / ants , body count , creature , horror , lynne frederick , michael murphy , post-apocalyptic , saul bass , science-fiction , seventies

LYNNE FREDERICK, NIGEL DAVENPORT & MICHAEL MURPHY 'PHASE IV'

<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/AVvXsEj3n7BgTEXQW_CZi-jLcI-MRuHbekF660eBpc1jdUqD0JnoAXzBlEKwNwOqyor4tBR7Zm0e35Uazq38yOjBfo2oegThuIXj7cfGiaIFuzCiED4r_p0o93Vnv9optCTn4ApETuIL4R68xn6yb39qzTiakcBWFUGH0bzd_rzO2ZUp2ujB9i7JbdM_QhAaipEn/s2330/Screen%20Shot%202025-06-29%20at%208.45.37%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1258" data-original-width="2330" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3n7BgTEXQW_CZi-jLcI-MRuHbekF660eBpc1jdUqD0JnoAXzBlEKwNwOqyor4tBR7Zm0e35Uazq38yOjBfo2oegThuIXj7cfGiaIFuzCiED4r_p0o93Vnv9optCTn4ApETuIL4R68xn6yb39qzTiakcBWFUGH0bzd_rzO2ZUp2ujB9i7JbdM_QhAaipEn/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202025-06-29%20at%208.45.37%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lynne Frederick in PHASE IV Year: 1974 Rating: ****</td></tr></tbody></table>The science-fiction cult curio PHASE
 IV stands out above all other ant-driven horror films in that
director Saul Bass, famous for his opening credit sequences... takes us 
extremely close and tightly cerebral to the subjects at hand, providing a
 sort of Einstein at the Drive-In...And PHASE has Bass all alone, with animation replaced by what seems, 
aesthetically, a post-apocalyptic, rural location where ants are taking 
(or have already taken) over. Here's where Nigel Davenport's scientist Dr. Ernest D. Hubbs is teamed 
with a younger, less informed but just as essential Michael Murphy 
as James R. Lesko: holed-up in a domed structure receiving various codes
 on that-era's giant computers...

ants, body count, creature, horror, lynne frederick, michael murphy, post-apocalyptic, saul bass, science-fiction, seventies

LYNNE FREDERICK, NIGEL DAVENPORT & MICHAEL MURPHY 'PHASE IV'

Lynne Frederick in PHASE IV Year: 1974 Rating: **** The science-fiction cult curio PHASE IV stands out above all other ant-driven horror fi...

ROBERT QUARRY SINKS HIS TEEH INTO 'COUNT YORGA, VAMPIRE'

<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/AVvXsEiOuKRTyfUWhsE8AoYvkFGM67fvdW10fVSiytFOQE0Tjzha0OiH06R6McVdqn84jzXmEQaEbzaPMYKHzvRe0QJDjXx1RF_Cqp5IqNUysk7lxgarHvN-1Ww2mUhKN5hbb6Ewlen-nbLNezQ8FSUoPENSJERv9a0xZf75RPRItsZ-5A1eSJQg26I8LFGwK5a7/s1970/1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="966" data-original-width="1970" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOuKRTyfUWhsE8AoYvkFGM67fvdW10fVSiytFOQE0Tjzha0OiH06R6McVdqn84jzXmEQaEbzaPMYKHzvRe0QJDjXx1RF_Cqp5IqNUysk7lxgarHvN-1Ww2mUhKN5hbb6Ewlen-nbLNezQ8FSUoPENSJERv9a0xZf75RPRItsZ-5A1eSJQg26I8LFGwK5a7/s16000/1.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: COUNT YORGA, VAMPIRE Year: 1970 Rating: ****</td></tr></tbody></table>A hybrid of late-1960's leading to early-1970's low-budget exploitation horror and the classic horror genre, COUNT YORGA VAMPIRE balances rough, grainy exterior with an American actor seeming extremely British... so formidably sophisticated yet wonderfully underplayed, he was supposed to replace an aging Vincent Prince for American International Pictures... Consisting of sparse-setup interiors, gothic mansion exteriors and stolen shots of various characters having looped-in conversations throughout daylight Los Angeles, YORGA not only made money but was critically praised... mainly because of Robert Quarry's titular role, more befitting a higher-budgeted, Victorian-era Hammer production...

bob kelljan, body count, cult, donna anderson, edward walsh, horror, judy lang, michael murphy, robert quarry, seventies, sybil scotford, vampire

ROBERT QUARRY SINKS HIS TEEH INTO 'COUNT YORGA, VAMPIRE'

Title: COUNT YORGA, VAMPIRE Year: 1970 Rating: **** A hybrid of late-1960's leading to early-1970's low-budget exploitation horror a...

DECONSTRUCTING 'STRANGE BEHAVIOR' INVOLVING 'DEAD KIDS'

<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/AVvXsEhO0NBkvni_KK7oDd7Us2tnrOcxR3YzFhxhIwxk3R_SsfGlWD3FiQlEVvfEa9vVhyphenhyphenBs91OA63M7gmukYkdvNK_qAN6AE5K6Ekcr4lP8NChfTTD6zG2_VjNIcpQt7YSwfZLmR_IEAbj-AYP0PY9m8jkg01WkJn517D2LTpCGPwKtBjSgyOR0XGjccNV1Cc1Q/s2374/Screen%20Shot%202023-07-31%20at%205.30.58%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1234" data-original-width="2374" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO0NBkvni_KK7oDd7Us2tnrOcxR3YzFhxhIwxk3R_SsfGlWD3FiQlEVvfEa9vVhyphenhyphenBs91OA63M7gmukYkdvNK_qAN6AE5K6Ekcr4lP8NChfTTD6zG2_VjNIcpQt7YSwfZLmR_IEAbj-AYP0PY9m8jkg01WkJn517D2LTpCGPwKtBjSgyOR0XGjccNV1Cc1Q/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202023-07-31%20at%205.30.58%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: STRANGE BEHAVIOR aka STRANGE KIDS Year: 1981 Rating: ****</td></tr></tbody></table>In director Michael Laughlin and co-writer/producing partner Bill Condon's second in their Strange-Double-Feature, titled STRANGE INVADERS, Dey Young and Dan Shor appear in a quick prologue as young yet old-fashion 1950's-era lovers, smooching in a car... And two years earlier in STRANGE BEHAVIOR they're again behind the wheel, but here as the lead characters in modern times... the sheriff's son and his progressive girlfriend... as she timidly smokes after he'd (covertly) altered into a living-zombie-type, knocking her out before returning to the film's ominous epicenter — that caused his potentially lethal mental and physical transition...

bill condon, dan shor, dey young, eighties, elizabeth cheshire, fiona lewis, horror, louise fletcher, marc mcclure, michael laughlin, michael murphy, science-fiction, scott brady, tangerine dream

DECONSTRUCTING 'STRANGE BEHAVIOR' INVOLVING 'DEAD KIDS'

Title: STRANGE BEHAVIOR aka STRANGE KIDS Year: 1981 Rating: **** In director Michael Laughlin and co-writer/producing partner Bill Condon...

STRANGE ON STRANGE INVADERS & BEHAVIOR DOUBLE FEATURE

<table 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/AVvXsEhqYaol7TR9DX2gBveWsvZXhCjEEL4mIGbbHqyvF2LTr0B6RxWz6CFJC0erAGUWEuVI_LdrSoj5q_TyjnuWU-Rqljs6TwIGD5waYzEH1CAbhnkjT2iBP0D6ANr9rbDUyMMvgTPz_PYyNGo/s1600/Screen+Shot+2016-07-15+at+4.42.15+PM.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="363" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqYaol7TR9DX2gBveWsvZXhCjEEL4mIGbbHqyvF2LTr0B6RxWz6CFJC0erAGUWEuVI_LdrSoj5q_TyjnuWU-Rqljs6TwIGD5waYzEH1CAbhnkjT2iBP0D6ANr9rbDUyMMvgTPz_PYyNGo/s400/Screen+Shot+2016-07-15+at+4.42.15+PM.png" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Look at Strange Invaders & Dead Kids YEARS: 1981-1983</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
"Do you feel like going to the gym or working out?" young SUPERMAN photographer Marc McClure says to future young TRON byte warrior Dan Shor. "I feel like I'm in a dream or something..." And how! 
 
DEAD KIDS, from 1981, has that very title in the opening credits, proof that STRANGE BEHAVIOR is an alternate to coincide with the more conventional 1983 thriller, STRANGE INVADERS... 
 
Plus the fact director Michael Laughlin and writer Bill Condon planned for a STRANGE trilogy that never came to pass, the DVD (or in this case, Blu Ray) title was finally altered back to the original. And like how poor Marc felt, DEAD KIDS does have a dreamy aura and aesthetic. Filmed in the lush region of New Zealand and supposedly taking place in small town America (which is never that green and lovely!), the scenery is beyond-gorgeous while the vibe seems as if the very film were somehow cursed (a similar feeling derives from THE EXORCIST, THE LAST PICTURE SHOW, KISS ME DEADLY and several other vehicles), or as if the mind-altering, experimental heavies had made the film instead of an ambiguous "middleman" i.e. filmmaker.