Death Shock is a British sex-horror film made in 1982. It was credited to Lindsay Honey – better known as porn director Ben Dover – although he has denied directing the film, claiming that Bill Wright – aka Frank Thring – actually wrote and directed the film. It was released on VHS in the UK by ADB Video Services.
The story involves a car load of people who become stranded in Norfolk and take shelter in a remote country house, only to discover that bizarre Satanic rituals are being carried out by the occupants.
The film was made by the same production team behind the Videx series of films that had been set up by Mike Freeman in 1979, taking advantage of the lack of regulation for video in the UK to shoot a series of hardcore ‘videograms’ that were extensively advertised in both adult and mainstream video magazines until Freeman’s conviction under the Obscene Publications Act in 1981. Honey, who had worked as the company’s sales manager, took over and shot one more hardcore film (Rock ‘n’ Roll Ransom) before the company was dissolved.
Unlike the Videx films, Death Shock was apparently only ever shot as a softcore film (despite it being a ‘Hard Times Production’, the final edit coming in at just 50 minutes, including ‘It’ll Be Alright on the Bed’, a series of comedy outtakes. There are few credits on the film, but the cast includes Wright and Honey’s girlfriend and British adult industry icon Linzi Drew (who also appeared in the authentically awful spoof British porn film featured in An American Werewolf in London the same year).
Linzi Drew
Withdrawn from sale with the enforcement of the 1985 Video Recordings Act, Death Shock has become something of a cult classic, much to Honey’s embarrassment. Bootleg copies are available on DVD, but the film has yet to have an official release and Death Shock 2, promised in the closing titles, has yet to appear.
The Transformation (A Sandwich of Nightmares) is a 1974 US comedy sex/horror film written and directed by Lewis Jackson (Christmas Evil). This Palomino film was produced by Elliot Krasnow the film stars Dianna W. Mitchell, Michael Baxter, David Kirk, Les Crook (as Renfield), Elliot Kastner (producer Krasnow) and director Lewis Jackson. Music was provided by Broken Wing.
The film had a self-applied X rating but was later rated R by the MPAA. It was released by Howard Mahler Films as Transformation in September 1976. Unfortunately, it is now considered ‘lost’.
Boxoffice magazine commented: “Combining a sex and horror story with elements of comedy and mysticism, this low-budget effort surrounds the fictional plot with a documentary about the making of the film. Producer Elliot Krasnow, director-writer Lewis Jackson, stars Dianna Mitchell and Michael Baxter are seen discussing the shooting and generally reacting to the situations at hand. The real people are so unaffected that they overshadow the screenplay, dealing with a sex-and-sadism cult investigated by Baxter and Professor David Kirk. Novice Baxter falls in love with exotic singer Mitchelle before discovering she’s the high priestess of the cult. Jackson, a former trade press reporter, can also be seen in at least one bit. It’s an interesting try at something different, but might appeal mainly to the underground culture.”
“This was Christmas Evil (1980) director Lewis Jackson’s second film, after the softcore flick The Deviators (1970). Baxter falls in love with an exotic singer, who turns out to be the high priestess of a cult he’s investigating. The fictional part of the film is book-ended with behind-the-scenes footage of the production.” Brian Albright, Regional Horror Films, 1958-1990: A State-by-State Guide with Interviews
A “lonely castle” is the suitably atmospheric setting of this horror themed 8mm glamour film from the late 1960s. The lonely castle is home to an equally lonely hunchback, who looks as if he has stumbled in from the set of an Andy Milligan film. In a desperate bid for some female company the hunchback has knocked together a nude woman in his laboratory. After a quick blast of electricity Miss Frankenstein (Lisa Brent) is brought to life, only adhering to horror film lore the attractive female creation wants nothing to do with her unattractive creator. Strolling around the lab in the nude, its not long before Miss Frankenstein gets the hump with her hunchbacked love interest. Spurning his advances she instead resorts to the drastic measure of drinking a potion that turns her into a zombie!! A decision that means the hunchback is in for a night of terror rather than titillation as Miss Frankenstein – now sporting the appearance of a skull faced corpse – pursues him around the lab.
According to the enigmatic 8mm film collector and archivist “Muswell”, Miss Frankenstein R.I.P. was the work of an East London outfit calling themselves “Collectors Club”, who distributed 8mm copies of classic silent movies as well as producing a number of glamour films in the late 60s and 1970s. The filmmakers’ tenuous connection to mainstream cinema may explain why Miss Frankenstein’s cinematic aspirations go beyond the simple filmed striptease content of many 8mm glamour films. Were you to approach Miss Frankenstein blind you’d be forgiven for thinking you were watching an amateur, fan made horror short that had had some female nudity grafted onto it, to ensure the film an audience beyond living room screenings for the director’s friends and family. Considering that Miss Frankenstein was in fact a commercial sexploitation venture, whose horror elements were merely an indulgence, the filmmakers make an honorable – if somewhat cash strapped – attempt at shoehorning a homage to horror cinema of yore into the 8mm glamour format. The use of traditional horror film iconography, the gothic castle, the idiot hunchback, the skull-faced apparition etc, suggesting a particular allegiance to the silent and Universal eras of the fright film.
The only notably phony element is the Mad Doctor equipment used to bring Miss Frankenstein back to life, which includes what is obviously two plastic bottles painted black and a sparkler, meaning that Miss Frankenstein comes to life with more of a whimper than a bang.
As for Miss Frankenstein herself, Lisa Brent makes for quite an eye opening sight both in her undressed state and as a skull faced corpse. In both guises Brent manages to expose more flesh than the average glamour model of the period (if you were to try and date the film in terms of nudity, the full frontal shots of Ms. Brent would suggest we’re talking the late sixties here, given that glamour films made in the earlier 1960s tended to shy away from full disclosure). For all the naked flesh on display, ultimately Brent’s not-unappealing nudity ends up playing second fiddle to the horror film antics. An approach that makes the film differ from the outputs of say Russell Gay (Bloodlust) or Harrison Marks, whose glamour photographer’s eyes always lead them to emphasize their nude female subjects first and foremost – no matter what crazy spectacle they’d chosen to parachute them into. Harrison Marks would himself venture into similar territory to Miss Frankenstein with his 1973 short Dolly Mixture, a far more explicit production that also has its own horny hunchback and a nude female creation. If anything though Miss Frankenstein has more in common with the 8mm glamour film work of Arthur Howell whose vehicles for his partner June Palmer like the sci-fi themed June in Orbit and the oater Calamity June often get similarly carried away with their elaborate film homages, to the degree that its easy to forget the nudity in those films were there real raison d’etre.
Andy Milligan’s mad-eyed Body Beneath cast with Sarum Chase in the background
NB. Miss Frankenstein R.I.P. was shot in West Hampstead’s Sarum Chase. This neo-Tudor mansion was also the 7 June 1968 setting for a photoshoot for The Rolling Stones, for their Beggars Banquet album. Salum Chase was also used for some of Andy Milligan’s London-based movies such as The Body Beneath and the deliriously titled The Rats Are Coming! The Werewolves Are Here!
Massage Parlor Murders (aka Massage Parlor Hookers) is a 1973 American gore thriller directed by Chester Fox and Alex Stevens. Set around the squalid Times Square area of New York, though receiving a decent cinema run at the time, it was never released on home video and has only very recently been made available for the armchair viewer by the film distribution company, Vinegar Syndrome, which specialises in releasing films formerly considered to be ‘lost’.
1970′s New York is the backdrop for a series of brutal murders, seemingly targeting the working girls of the city’s massage establishments. On the case are ‘beyond the law’ detectives; the permanently angry Rosetti (George Spencer) and the laid back David Soul of the pair, O’Mara (John Moser). O’Mara becomes pally and then romantically involved with Gwen (played byThe Last House on the Left alumni, Sandra Peaboy), the room-mate of the first victim, whom Rosetti was, unbeknownst to all, conducting an affair with.
Despite their best efforts, which mostly rely on Rosetti beating up completely innocent guys in the vicinity of massage parlors, the murders continue, leading to a remarkable car-chase which sees O’Mara clad only in a towel (having been staking out a budget Plato’s retreat style haunt), wrecking a fish stall and causing havoc, only for the eventual cad to be a minor-league sex-pest rather than a vicious murderer. They consult a local psychic (played with typical verve by genuine fruit-loop, Brother Theodore, seen in The ‘Burbs and sex-laden Jaws spoof, Gums) whom the girls all seem to have been visiting but there are no further leads, though our Brotherly friend gives an eye-popping performance anyway; it’s difficult to say whether he had any idea he was appearing in a film.
The murders continue and often end with a Herschell Gordon Lewis level of blood and ‘matter’, the garish red hues sparkling on the blu-ray upgrade it has been afforded. Beyond Brother Theodore’s appearance, other recognisable faces include Chris Jordan as one of the hookers (seen in several Joe Sarno films and the classic sexploitation film Teenage Hitchhikers, also ex-wife of legendary porn actor Eric Edwards), the first screen appearance of George Dzundza (later seen in The Deer Hunter and Salem’s Lot, as well as dozens of TV roles) and Beverly Bonner, the sassy Casey from Basket Case and Anne Gaybis, glimpsed in everything from Black Shampoo to Friday 13th Part III.
Though the film’s ending rather smacks of the directors suddenly realising they’ve nearly run out of film (quite likely) it doesn’t detract from an absolutely magnificent spectacle. As a slice of 70′s NY sleaze, you could barely wish for better and the care Vinegar Syndrome have taken with their restoration is to be commended. The scenes of Times Square sleaze pits and grindhouses will have aficionados frothing at the mouth whilst fans of the ear-searingly kitsch will revel at some of the most remarkable wallpaper ever conceived.
Far better than its obscurity would suggest, Massage Parlor Murders is essential viewing, the acting being never less than engaging, the script peppered with enjoyable of-the-era jive talk (and a brief discussion about the merits of Shaft’s Big Score), a cracking score and a resolution that is suitably ridiculous.
Night Screams is a U.S. slasher horror film directed by Allen Plone from a screenplay by Mitch Brian and Dillis L. Hart II, based upon the latter’s storyline. It was edited by Herbert L. Strock (director of I Was a Teenage Frankenstein, How to Make a Monster and a slew of other low budget horrors).
The film shows characters watching kill highlights from slasher movie Graduation Day (1981) on TV and soft core excerpts from a porn movie featuring John Holmes, Seka and Desiree Cousteau on video!
A troubled high school football star throws a party for his friends. Meanwhile, two insane killers escape from a nearby asylum on that same night, and in their efforts to elude authorities, wind up at the party.
“It’s obvious that the writers of Night Screams were trying for something a little more original. A lot of the basic elements remain – a violent person released from a mental institution, a party at a desolate house, sexy hijinks, etc,… but a new element was added. Not only was one of the young party goers probably a notorious killer, but two escaped convicts were also stashing themselves away at the party. An interesting twist that is never fully realized, it’s still kind of neat little crinkle in the normally straight-as-an-arrow plot line.” Retro Slashers
“There are a few fun kill sequences and a bit of hokey gore here and the body-count tops 20, but it’s purely amateur day when it comes to the acting, directing and, well, just about everything else really. The last 20 minutes perk up a bit – but considering the unrelieved tedium of what’s gone before it’d be a miracle if it didn’t. The ending is a 24-carrott groaner too and will probably have you throwing your empties at the screen when ‘chopsticks’ starts up again, but at least it was a little leftfield.” Hysteria Lives
“It would have taken me pages to accurately recount every time a character appears in a location where he or she could not conceivably be according the laws of physics. When it was not violating the space-time continuum, this movie featured shaky camera work. Even that was often easy to overlook, because the scenes were so dark that the cinematography didn’t make any difference. As annoying as this movie is to watch, it is equally annoying to listen to. The microphones flickered on and off at random, which often cut off the ends of important lines.” Something Awful
A laboratory mix-up means that a vaccine is accidentally swapped with a virus causing a high school full of students and teachers to turn into flesh-eating zombies. But all is not lost: New student Aki discovers that the swim team is immune to the plague. With the school rampaged by ravenous monsters, the girls engage in an over-the-top orgy of gory violence to save the day…
Aki, brainwashed and trained (in that order) to become an assassin, is transferred to an all-girl school, just as a virus that turns the young ladies into entrail-twirling zombies has been making the rounds. Everyone – teachers included – are made into gleeful zombies, tearing into necks, chopping off limbs, and decapitating students with metal rulers. Everyone, that is, except the swim team. Turns out the school pool’s chlorine makes them immune to the zomb-virus.
The cartoonish gore is straight grindhouse stuff and is amusingly entertaining. One female teacher uses stringy guts pulled out of a chainsawed stomach to accessorize her fresh-stained wardrobe. The evil scientist turns out to be doubly so, and faces off with Aki in the end, who’s not too happy about that whole “brainwashing through rape” Japanese technique. Aki, without any clothes worth mentioning, has a secret retribution weapon up her, uh, sleeve.
Just so you know, this fine film is in Japanese and the version available does not have sub-titles. As if that’s gonna stop you watching it.
José Ramón Larraz (born 1929 in Barcelona) was an idiosyncratic Spanishdirector of exploitation and horror fims such as the erotic and bloody cult classic Vampyres (1974). He died in Malaga on 3rd September 2013.
Larraz began making films in England with Whirlpool, an erotic thriller co-produced by a Danish company. He made many different types of films using a variety of pseudonyms, but is best known for his horror films. His last few horror films were Spanish/American co-productions. He apparently retired from feature filmmaking in 1992 at age 63.
House on the Edge of the Park (Italian: La casa sperduta nel parco) is a 1980 Italian exploitation film from the Italian director Ruggero Deodato. It stars David Hess, Giovanni Lombardo Radice and Lorraine De Selle and features a musical score by Riz Ortolani. The entire film was shot in under four weeks, on a very limited budget.
Degenerate New York mechanic, Alex (David Hess, to some extent reprising the role he played as Krug in Wes Craven’s The Last House on the Left) spends his downtime prowling the streets abducting and assaulting, sometimes murdering the local women. A typical day sees Alex and his workmate, the slow-on-the-uptake Ricky (Giovanni Lombardo Radice of Cannibal Ferox, Cannibal Apocalypse and City of the Living Dead), closing the garage for the night, only for a car containing socially mobile yuppie types Tom (Christian Borromeo, Tenebrae, Murder-Rock) and his girlfriend Lisa (Annie Belle, Absurd) who need some urgent repairs on the cadillac. Ricky agrees to help and in no time the job is done – as a way of thanking them for their time, Tom invites them to a party at their friend’s large villa, situated, yes, next to a park. Pausing only for Alex to equip himself with a straight razor, they set off for a night of high jinx.
Upon arrival, it’s clear that the social and financial divide between the two groups of party-goers is some cause of amusement, at Alex and Ricky’s expense. Ricky is coerced into cinema’s greatest dance sequence and later a game of poker, with some extremely naughty cheating going on. As Alex’s anger continues to rise, he is seduced by Lisa whose sexual advances lead him to the shower, only for her to reject him. His rage is unleashed on another of the guests, Howard (Gabriele Di Giulio), who after a severe beating is urinated on and then tied to a table leg as Alex announces that he’s running the show now. Despite being outnumbered, Alex and Ricky subject the group to a relentless torrent of sexual and violent attacks, Alex slashing Tom with his razor and Ricky becoming involved with Gloria (Lorraine De Selle from Cannibal Ferox and Wild Beasts) who finds it easy to distract him from his more violent intentions by performing a striptease. Meanwhile, Alex is running rampage, with next door neighbour, Cindy (Brigitte Petronio, The Cynic, The Rat and The Fist) cut to ribbons and the rest of the household lining up to be next. Ricky finally snaps and begs him to stop, only to be disemboweled for his troubles. The worm turns when, rather belatedly, Tom remembers there’s a gun hidden in a desk drawer. Quicker next time, eh?
Sporting a title which revels in the greatest obsession of exploitation filmmakers, houses and the environs thereof, House on the Edge of the Parkis regularly compared to The Last House on the Left, primarily because Hess plays a similarly unhinged killer. Hess was singled out for the role because of his portrayal of Krug and was allegedly lured to the part by the promise of half the film’s rights. However, the tragedy and dynamics of the earlier film are shifted considerably by Deodato’s effort, with the rich party hosts being morally dubious and the whole household frankly needing a stern talking to.
The infamous director came straight from filming Cannibal Holocaust and was in no mood to lighten things up, employing hard-nosed writers Gianfranco Clerici and Vincenzo Mannino to sketch out the sense-light/violence-heavy screenplay – and their track record for sadistic sleaze was admirable, with a host of grim shockers under their belt, from Don’t Torture a Ducklingto Last Cannibal World and, in 1982, the misogynistic yet mesmerisingly mean The New York Ripper. Despite admitting that he thought the script was ‘too violent’, Deodato went ahead and filmed it anyway, omitting only a ‘bridge too far’ scene involving abuse with a tampon.
The savage make-up effects by Raul Ranieri, who also worked with Deodato and Hess on Hitch-Hike and on Umberto Lenzi’s Eaten Alive!coupled with an unremitting sexual violence landed the film in hot water in the UK, being rejected for a cinema certificate in March of 1981 and after sneaking out on VHS finding itself on the now notorious DPP ‘banned list’. When it was resubmitted in 2002, it was, ironically, savagely cut by over 11 minutes, essentially all the rape and slashings. The latest cut is still trimmed by 42 seconds of razor mayhem some 33 years on from its initial release.
Though regularly flagged up as an example of films which are morally bankrupt and can only serve to corrupt the mind, House on the Edge of the Park is unfailing enjoyable, primarily because of the energetic and all-or-nothing performances of Hess and Radice. Their victims are almost a roll call of Italian exploitation faces whose names may escape you but are part of the firmament of 70′s and 80′s grub-core.
The disco dancing scene, whether intentionally or not, is a riot and the fact that all the characters are represent many of the worst elements of society simply adds to the rather cartoon quality of the film, something of an uber-violent pantomime. Though Ortolani’s score is nowhere near as accomplished as that of his masterpiece for Cannibal Holocaust, it is nevertheless similarly inappropriate, raising the question of whether he ever understood the kind of films he was scoring for.
Before the untimely death of David Hess, plans were underway to revisit the film with a sequel, with both Radice and Hess appearing in some capacity, and Deodato slated to direct.
Daz Lawrence, Horrorpedia
Dance along like Ricky!
Buy Psycho Killer triple-bill Scream Show DVD from Amazon.com
Buy Cannibal Holocaust and the Savage Cinema of Ruggero Deodato FAB Press book from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk
The Invisible Maniac is a 1990 film directed by Adam Rifkin, credited as Rif Coogan. The screenplay was by Matt Devlen, Tony Markes and Rif Coogan. It features Noel Peters, porn star Savannah, Stephanie Blake, Melissa Moore and Clement von Franckenstein. Republic Pictures released the film on VHS but it has not been released on DVD yet.
A young boy is caught by his mother spying on the young lady across the road as she removes her lingerie. She lambasted him on the evils of women.
Twenty years later, the scientist announces his theories of invisibility to a group of colleagues. They mock him and he responds by killing four of them. He escapes from the insane asylum and manages to secure a job teaching summer school physics at a high school. The students tease him relentlessly. Meanwhile, he perfects his serum for invisibility, and he goes on a spree of vengeance…
“There are a lot of surprisingly good kills here—Bubba being force-fed a sandwich, Betty getting choked by a fire hose, Vicky’s electrocution by way of radio and shower. Kevin even pulls off a couple of decent Freddy-type lines, which could probably have slipped into a second draft of The Dream Child (my favorite: when he throws Gordon from the roof, Kevin quips, “Basic law of physics: What goes up, must come down!”).” VHShitfest
“Rifkin is attempting to draw on the wild era of great 80s slasher movies, and as so often happens when people come in at the end of a trend, he takes it to ridiculous lengths. In 80s horror, of course, the killers’s victims are usually suffering a metaphorical punishment for their crimes – drugs, sex and alcohol being the most popular choices. In the world of The Invisible Maniac, that idea of the world providing the killer a slate of deserving victims is utterly absurd.” Reel to Reel
Relatos de Presidio (‘Tales from Prison’) is a popular “sensacionales” Mexican comic with horror and crime themes aimed at adults. Published by Editorial Toukan (and running to over 800 issues), the far from politically correct artwork and stories in Relatos de Presidio feature gory scenes of death and torture involving victims from both sexes.
‘Sensacionales’ or ‘La revisit vaquero’ are very low quality black and white comics printed in tones of sepia featuring about four panels per page in a four square diagram. The pocket size books generally have approximately one hundred pages and are famous for portraying voluptuous women on their covers. Most are sold cheaply at newsstands, either new or second-hand (similar to Italian fumetti).
Adult comics have a unique place in Mexican culture. Sensacionales are trashy and exploitative, but they also represent a genuinely popular indigenous medium. The dominant role of adult comics in Mexico is relatively new. From the 1930s through the 1970s, Mexico had a thriving comic-book industry with many genres. Titles such as Pepín, Fantomas, and Memín Penguín sold millions of copies during this era. But in the 1980s, American superhero comics poured into Mexico. That, combined with the perception that comics were only for kids, nearly wiped out indigenous comic books in Mexico. The only genre to survive, and even thrive, was a unique form of adult pulp comics.
Devil Hunter (aka The Devil Hunter, Chasseurs d’Hommes,Sexo Cannibal, Jungfrau under Kannibalen, The Man Hunter,Mandingo Manhunter) is a 1980 Spanish erotic horror film directed by ‘Clifford Brown’ [Jess Franco - read his obituary here]. It stars Ursula Buchfellner, Al Cliver and Antonio Mayans.
A Vietnam veteran heads to an island inhabited by cannibals to save a kidnapped model not only from her kidnappers, but also from the cannibals’ lurking devil god…
The film was briefly available in the UK as a pre-cert (and now very rare) VHS on the Cinehollywood label before being banned and placed on the DPP list of official so-called ‘video nasties’. It is probably in the top five most expensive nasties. It was finally passed fully uncut by the BBFC in 2008.
The demon’s bug-eyes were created with ping-pong balls that had tiny holes poked in them to allow the actor to see.
This movie is often confused with Jesús Franco’s similar movie from the same year, White Cannibal Queen (aka Cannibals).
“This film will definitely give fans of exploitation at least some of the required elements. It really isn’t that gory or as shocking as most of the other entries into the cannibal cycle, but it certainly isn’t boring. It has enough quirks and unintentional humor to make it a worthy edition to anyone either collecting Jess Franco movies, or attempting to watch all of the video nasties. It remains a tantalizingly tasteless example of fascinating Franco.” Shock Till You Drop
“It sounds good, but keep in mind the thin film of slime, shocking scenarios, subcutaneous racism and plentiful nudity are all tempered by pathetic, woeful gore, and utter lack of tension, acres of tedium and cannibal-god action so grating you’ll want to tear the DVD out of its player and slash your TV-screen to ribbons before doing the same thing to yourself.” Kurt Dahlke, DVD Talk
Mike Vraneywas the founder of Something Weird Video, an American film distributor company based in Seattle, Washington. On January 2, 2014, he died after a lengthy battle with lung cancer. He was fifty-six years old. His sterling efforts to dig out and release masses of horror and exploitation films have undoubtedly been a major boon to the world of cult cinema, especially as his iconic label — which started out as basically a fan operation — had moved into legitimacy long ago via officially sanctioned DVD releases in conjunction with Image Entertainment and had recently been releasing Blu-rays and their own documentaries. Mike’s passion for trash cinema will be sorely missed.
Something Weird Video specialise in exploitation films, particularly the works of Harry Novak, Doris Wishman, David F. Friedman and Herschell Gordon Lewis. The company is named after Lewis’ 1967 film Something Weird, and the logo is taken from that film’s original poster art. Something Weird has distributed well over 2,500 films to date. Even when the movies themselves were pretty awful, Vraney ensured fans got their money’s worth by making up themed triple-bills and loading DVDs with masses of ultra-obscure and head-shaking extras.
Vraney was inspired by his teenage job as a theater projectionist. His love for the obscure films that never made it to video prompted him to transfer hundreds of ancient reels of film to VHS and DVD. On the company website, he explained the label’s genesis:
‘In my mind, the last great genre to be scavenged were the exploitation/sexploitation films of the ’30s through the ’70s. After looking into this further, I realized that there were nearly 2,000 movies out there yet to be discovered. So with this for inspiration, my quest began and wouldn’t you know, just out of the blue I fell into a large collection of 16mm girlie arcade loops (which became the first compilation videos we put together). Around the same time I received an unexpected phone call that suddenly made all this real: my future and hands-down the king of sexploitation Dave Friedman was on the other end of the line. This would be the beginning of a long and fruitful friendship for both of us. Dave’s films became the building blocks for our film collection and he has taught and guided me through the wonderful world of sexploitation, introducing me to his colleagues (Dan Sonney, Harry Novak, H. G. Lewis, Bob Cresse and all the other colourful characters who were involved during his heyday) and they’ve been eager to dive into the business again.’
The Horrible Sexy Vampire is a 1970 Spanish horror film (original title: El vampiro de la autopista “The Vampire of the Highway”) written and directed by José Luis Madrid (Seven Murders for Scotland Yard). It stars Waldemar Wohlfahrt [Wal Davis], Barta Barri, Anastasio Campoy, Susan Carvasal, Victor Davis, Kurt Esteban, Luis Induni and Patricia Loran.
A rash of murders leads the local doctor to believe the person responsible is connected with a deceased excentric Baron. The manner in which the killings were performed indicates the murderer to be an inhuman sadist. The closer the doctor comes to the truth behind the murders brings him into greater danger.
‘There’s very little horror in The Horrible Sexy Vampire, and although the girls on display are a welcome sight (after all these are the days when women were shaped like women, rather than either skin-and-bones or plastic-on-bones), these scenes often feel awkward and voyeuristic at best. The invisibility and other special effects are done on the cheap and the whole film feels tired and languid. Acting is horrendous, with Wohlfahrt in particular coming off an uncomfortable.’ Octavio Ramos, Examiner.com
‘As a prime example of the boring and under-achieving co-produced European horror cinema of four decades past, 1970′s The Horrible Sexy Vampire is, well, boring and under-achieving. Funded with pocket change forked forth by Spain’s Cinefilms and Italy’s Fida Cinematografica and filmed in Germany, Vampire is a pulse-free skin flick that tries to excuse itself with a tiresome Gothic horror framework. The only noteworthy aspect of the production is its own inherent awfulness, for which the title gets things at least partly right – it’s certainly horrible.’ Kevin Pyrtle, Wtf-Film
‘The pacing of The Horrible Sexy Vampire is on par with most European trash-horror films from the seventies. Meaning it is languid. It is slow. It is plodding. It doesn’t have enough character, violence, or plot to make it engaging. There are exactly zero twists. It even lacks atmosphere, which is a shame because this movie takes place in Stuttgart, which I imagine is a place that only has atmosphere and nothing else.’ Bleeding Skull
‘The film is awful, a little flesh and a story that drags on and on… but, strangely, it is Wohlfahrt’s performance – as bad as it is – that keeps you watching. He hasn’t the skill or presence to pull off one character, never mind two, but somehow he manages to keep an interest going in between the gratuitous booby shots.’ Taliesen Meets the Vampires
‘ … the film is hamstrung by laborious direction and particularly dim-witted writing, the product of which is several almost static dialogue scenes elaborating on an already illogical plot. The sole redeeming feature is the lighting, which produces a suitably Gothic atmosphere.’ David McGillivray, BFI Monthly Film Bulletin, May 1976
‘The action is restricted to the vampire’s endlessly repeated attacks on anonymous women as they come out of the shower, go to bed, and so on – in fact, as soon as a woman undresses, an attack can be expected. The castle’s atmosphere is largely provided by the repetition of a hollow-laughter track at regular intervals. The rest consists of static, overwritten dialogue scenes.’ The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror, edited by Phil Hardy, Aurum Press, 1993
Orror (Italian: ‘horror’) was an Italian ‘adults only’ fumetti comic book published in two different series in the late 1970s. For the first series, publishers Edifumetto issued 21 issues from June 1977 to May /1978; for the second series, 6 issues were issued in 1979.
As was the case with most horror-themed fumetti, the comics and covers often depicted scantily-clad or half-naked young women being terrorised by all manner of predatory ghouls, killers and monsters. Artwork was sometimes based upon images from horror films, such as the first edition’s no.20 which shows a vampire modelled on actor Jon Pertwee from the Amicus movie The House That Dripped Blood (1970) but shows him as Afro-Caribbean, Blacula-style! The cover for number 10 seems to be derived from an image used to promote Blood and Lace (1970), although in this case the hammer murder weapon is replaced with an axe. Second edition, no.6 shows a vampire with a striking resemblance to Jack Palance, who played Dracula for TV director Dan Curtis in 1973.
We are grateful to Comic Vine for the cover images shown here. Visit their site to see more…
Nurse 3D is a 2012 thriller/horror film directed by Doug Aarniokoski and written by David Loughery. It stars Paz de la Huerta, Katrina Bowden, Corbin Bleu. Dita Von Teese, Adam Herschman, Neal McDonough, Niecy Nash, and Nick Turturro. The film was inspired by the photography of Lionsgate’s chief marketing officer, Tim Palen. It will be released on various VOD platforms and limited theatres on February 7, 2014.
Acording to the official sysnopsis: “By day, nurse Abby Russell (de la Huerta) lovingly attends to the patients at All Saints Memorial Hospital; by night, Abby prowls nightclubs, luring unfaithful men into dangerous liaisons. After Danni, a young, sensitive nurse, joins the hospital staff, Abby pursues her friendship. But when the friendship turns to obsession, Danni spurns Abby, unleashing Abby’s fury and a rampage of terror…”
The film’s promotional material has been unusually sexual for a modern movie, harking back to the heyday of 1970s exploitation. Whether the film itself will live up to the hype remains to be seen!
Emanuele Taglietti (born in Ferrara, January 6, 1943) is an Italian designer, illustrator and painter.
Born to an artistic father, Emanuele Taglietti graduated from his local art institute, then moved to Rome where he studied set design at the Experimental Center of Cinematography. He worked on the art direction and set decoration for various films, including Federico Fellini’s Juliet of the Spirits.
In 1973, he returned to live in his home town and came into contact with Renzo Barbieri of Edifumetto, for whom he worked as a cover artist of erotic, crime, fantasy and horror-themed fumetti (Italian comic books). Having been inspired by artists such as Frank Frazetta and Averardo Ciriello, he created artwork for fumetti such as Zora the vampire, Belzeba, Cimiteria, Sukia, Stregoneria (“Witchcraft”), Gli Spettri (“The Spectres”), Il Sanguinari (“The Blood”), Lo Schelectro (“The Skeleton”), Ulula (“Howls”), Vampirissimo and Wallestein.
Occasionally, Taglietti reworked images and artwork from horror films such as Creature from the Black Lagoon, Night of the Demon (1957) and The Plague of the Zombies, and seems to have had a fixation on actress Ornella Muti (whom he based the image of Sukia on). Featuring the signature nudity of fumetti, his work was sometimes censored when the comic books were publish in other countries, like Spain.
During this busy period, which continued until 1988, Taglietti also restored old paintings and occasionally collaborated as an illustrator for magazine publishers such as Mondadori and Rizzoli. He retired in 2000, broadened the scope of his artistic interests, devoting himself to mural decoration and furniture.
We are very grateful to the Emanuele Taglietti Fan Club blog for the images above.Visit their blog to see lots more of Taglietti’s artwork…
Evil Come Evil Go is a 1972 American sexploitation horror film written and directed by Walt Davis (Widow Blue/Sex Psycho) for adult movie producer Bob Chinn. It stars Cleo O’Hara, Sandra Henderson, Jane Tsentas (The Jekyll and Hyde Portfolio, Terror at Orgy Castle), Rick Cassidy (Desires of the Devil), Margot Devletian, Chesley Noone (Angel Above – The Devil Below) and porn star John Holmes (who was also assistant director).
Previously available on DVD via Something Weird Video, the film is re-released on a DVD triple-bill by Vinegar Syndrome on January 7, 2014.
Traveling Evangelist preacher, Sister Sarah Jane (Cleo O’Hara), is hellbent on ridding the world of evil, sex-obsessed men. Taking to the streets of Los Angeles, she quickly befriends a gullible young bisexual woman and the two embark on a mad, sex-filled killing spree…
‘Though the film fails to come up with a satisfactory conclusion, the overlong sex scenes (which are pretty graphic and feature plenty of full male and female nudity) bog things down at times and some of the audio is heavily damaged, most of the humour is on target, it’s in very bad taste and O’Hara is hysterically funny as the deranged Southern Belle.’ The Bloody Pit of Horror
‘When it comes to mixing crazed religious harpies, almost-porno sex scenes and gooey gory murders, no film does it better than Evil Come Evil Go!… It’s another peek into the bizarro mind of Davis, but is competently photographed by Manuel S. Conde and better-acted than his more familiar films (The Danish Connection, Sex Psycho). The violence and sex is a tad more restrained this time around for Davis, but it’s still a sleazy, off-the-wall gem which could have only been made in the 1970′s!’ Casey Scott, DVD Drive-In
‘Although quite bloody at times (with much crimson-smeared bared flesh on display) the violence is not as explicit as the sex. And although there is more bloodshed here than in “Sex Psycho” there is nothing as extreme or gory as that movie’s machete to the neck demise. But once again sex and violence do taboo bed-fellows make so what violence there is seems magnified as a result.’ Beardy Freak
House of Whipcord, made in 1973 (released April 1974), is one of the most significant British horror films of the 1970s, a bleak, grim and unsavoury slice of cinema that helped signal the end of the gothic and the rise of a decade of nastiness. It was roundly hated by the horror establishment, then – as now – suspicious and contemptuous of anything new and challenging. But for a new generation of fans, this was much more exciting than the old-fashioned films, such as The Ghoul, being made by the likes of Tyburn in the mid-seventies.
Opening with a pointedly cynical statement to the hanging and flogging brigade: “This film is dedicated to those who are disturbed by today’s lax moral codes and who eagerly await the return of corporal and capital punishment”, the film tells the story of Anne Marie (Penny Irving), a French model who meets a young man at a party, and despite his name being Mark E. Desade (Robert Tayman, Vampire Circus), agrees to leave with him. Before long, she’s captive in a disused prison, where Mark’s parents (Barbara Markham and Patrick Barr) run a quasi-judicial punishment regime for girls who have strayed from the path of ‘righteousness’. Along with psychotic warder Walker (Sheila Keith), they strip, torture and abuse the girls in a hypocritical attempt to punish them for their sins’. But things soon start to fall apart, as Anne-Marie plans her escape…
With a sharply savage screenplay by David MacGillivray (Frightmare, Satan’s Slave) – his first horror film and first movie for Peter Walker in what would be a sometimes fractious relationship -House of Whipcord rises above the exploitative nature of the material, without compromising on the sleaze factor. Meanwhile, Walker delivers solid, no-nonsense direction. Irving and hardened exploitation starlet Anne Michelle get naked, there’s some gratuitous yet mild whipping and an overwhelming air of grubbiness, but the film nevertheless makes its point smartly, skewering the double standards of the so-called Moral Majority.
Of course, that same Moral Majority was out to get the film, and it suffered cuts at the hands of the BBFC – though less than you might expect, BBFC Head Stephen Murphy apparently appreciating the knowing attack on ‘moral reformers’. The movie received a couple of positive reviews in the press, such as Films and Filming: “Shows that something worthwhile in the entertainment-horror market can be done for the tiny sum of £60,000″. However, it was more memorably dismissed by Russell Davies in The Observer as “a feeble fladge-fantasy” and the Evening News: “as nasty an exploitation of sadism as I can recall in the cinema.”
Writing in his 1977 book Horror Films, genre fan and critic Alan Frank pronounced it to be “a silly and tawdry exploitation film with ill-conceived characters written as cliches … in a series of voyeuristic scenes of sadism and violence … British exploitation cinema at its lowest common denominator.” In more recent years, however, the film has built a substantial fan following, and for many remains the definitive Pete Walker film.
Buy House of Whipcord on Redemption Blu-ray from Amazon.co.uk
Buy The Pete Walker Collection on Redemption Blu-ray Disc from Amazon.com
The film was re-released in the USA by United Producers as Stag Model Slaughter and later, with a misleading ad campaign that made it look like a soft porn film. The Photographer’s Models. In France, it was known simply as Flagellations.
“I’ve always thought that this film was going to be one of those seedy, underground 1970s sexploitation films with no plot and lots of naked women being whipped left right and centre. However, I’m pleased to say that while it is low budget, with the odd flash of unnecessary flesh it is also quite a reasonable little horror that at times can be quiet harrowing.” Spooky Isles
“An above average sexploitation/horror that has been put together with some polish and care from a fairly original script. The film is dedicated ironically to all those who wish to see the return of capital punishment in Britain, and it’s about a senile old judge and his wife who are so appalled by current permissiveness that they set up a gruesome house of correction for young girls. The only trouble is that the film undercuts its potentially interesting Gothic theme by some leering emphases, and the final result is likely to be seen and appreciated only by the people who will take the dedication at its face value” David Pirie, Time Out
Buy Making Mischief: The Cult Films of Pete Walker from Amazon.co.uk
Cast, in credits order:
Barbara Markham … Mrs. Wakehurst
Patrick Barr … Justice Bailey
Ray Brooks … Tony
Ann Michelle … Julia
Sheila Keith … Walker
Dorothy Gordon … Bates
Robert Tayman … Mark E. Desade
Ivor Salter … Jack
Karan David … Karen
Celia Quicke … Denise
Ron Smerczak … Ted
Tony Sympson … Henry
Judy Robinson … Claire
Jane Hayward … Estelle
Celia Imrie … Barbara
Barry Martin … Al
Rose Hill … Henry’s Wife
Dave Butler … Ticket Collector
And introducing Penny Irving as Ann-Marie Di Verney
Brides of Blood is a 1968 Filipino horror film directed by Eddie Romero and Gerardo de Leon, based on a screenplay by Cesar Amigo. It stars John Ashley (Frankenstein’s Daughter, The Eye Creatures), Kent Taylor (The Crawling Hand, The Mighty Gorga, Blood of Ghastly Horror), Beverly Powers [as Beverly Hills] (The Comedy of Terrors, Invasion of the Bee Girls, Jaws), Eva Darren (Vampira, 1994), Mario Montenegro, Oscar Kesse.
It was the first movie actor John Ashley made in the Philippines, he soon returned for Mad Doctor of Blood Island, Beast of the Yellow Night, Blood Devils, The Twilight People and others.
Plot:
Dr. Paul Henderson is a scientist who travels to a tropical island (known to locals as “Blood Island”) to investigate the possibility of radiation due to the testing of atomic bombs in the area. Accompanying him is his beautiful wife, Carla, who seems to suffer from an extreme case of sexual frustration. Jim Farrell, a Peace Corps representative is also traveling to the island to help the natives build facilities to better their lives.
The trio come upon a native funeral procession. They realize in horror that the two bodies being carried for burial at sea are completely dismembered; an arm falls out, causing Carla to scream in terror. After the ceremony, the Americans are greeted by Arcadio, the tribe’s elder, and his granddaughter Alma. Arcadio welcomes them to the island, but both he and Alma seem terrified of something, and he openly admits that he wishes he would have warned them to stay away before the boat left.
Paul goes looking for specimens and is joined by Carla. Both of them notice a bizarre manifestation when the sun appears to set hours before it should do so. The darkening island becomes ominous, a feeling furthered when Paul discovers the carcass of an oversized crab. Then Jim notices a strange plant near the village…
Reviews:
“The whole film is very colorfully shot, with lots of bold lighting choices, such as blue and pink smoke for the sacrifice scenes. It also features some very good sets and props, as well as more gore and nudity than most horrors of its day. In short; it’s an awful movie that looks pretty good and thanks to the busy plot, exploitation elements and overall air of silliness, I can almost guarantee schlock fans are gonna enjoy this one.” The Bloody Pit of Horror
“Brides of Blooddoes have the occasional gripping and effective moment, including a couple of chase scenes through the man-eating jungle which combine surprisingly good day-for-night cinematography with some really ingenious matte effects, but mostly it’s just extremely silly. Some of the blame belongs to John Ashley. His boyish, matinee-idol looks seem woefully out of place, his acting is as miserable as it was when he was working for Larry Buchanan, and in general, the movie would have been much better off without him. A lot more of it has to do with the utterly ludicrous pseudo-science that threatens to gobble up every line of dialogue…” 1000 Misspent Hours and Counting
“With an outrageous silly/scary creature running around and making unearthly noises, Brides of Blood is a fun monster romp that’s reminiscent of a 50s B picture. There’s a lot of eerie nighttime photography, and some pre-ratings systems blood and nudity. Giant fleshy tree vines grabbing small children and clutch various extremities is pretty effective, as is the appeal of the feisty Hills, who aside from her luscious looks is not a bad actress either.“ George R. Reis, DVD Drive-In
” … it does offer mild amusement for those who like their horrors cheesy and silly; everyone else may find it a test of the patience.” Graeme Clark, The Spinning Image
Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals – released in the USA as Trap Them and Kill Them – is a 1977 Italian erotic horror film, directed by Joe D’Amato (Aristide Massaccesi). The film is part of a loose series of Black Emanuelle films that emerged in the second half of the 1970s, mostly starring Laura Gemser and directed by D’Amato,
Following the global success of the softcore sex film Emmanuelle in 1974, many film producers around the world climbed on the bandwagon. Possibly because the Emmanuelle producers had the world’s worst lawyers, or possibly because copyright was rather more lax at the time, many of these films managed to use the Emmanuelle name by simply changing the spelling – in the case of Black Emanuelle and its sequels, this involved dropping one ‘M’.
While the original Black Emanuelle, made in 1975, was simply a softcore travelogue very much in the tradition of the original film, but with Laura Gemser – actually Eurasian rather than black, but that seemed close enough for 1970s audiences – in the title role. Interestingly, the same year she made Black Emanuelle, she also appeared in Emmanuelle 2. This version of the character was a photo journalist, who found herself getting into all manner of erotic adventures.
Under the guidance of D’Amato – who took over the series after Black Emanuelle 2 – the films rapidly became more and more outlandish and shocking. By 1977 – a year in which no less than four entries in the series were released, Emanuelle was investigating snuff movie rings in Emanuelle in America, violence against women in Emanuelle Around the World and even became a nun in Sister Emanuelle! These films pushed the limits of good taste – Emanuelle in America has graphic fake snuff movie footage, brief hardcore, while some versions of Emmanuelle Around the World had violent sex scenes and also hardcore inserts. It was no surprise, therefore, that D’Amato would combine the series with the newly popular cannibal films spawned by Ruggero Deodato’s Last Cannibal World. We should perhaps be grateful that he wasn’t pursuing the outrage a year earlier, or we might have had a Naziploitation Emanuelle film!
In Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals, Emanuelle, while working undercover at a hospital, stumbles upon a girl who seems to have been raised by a tribe of cannibals in the Amazon (this discovery is made shockingly when a nurse is attacked and has her right breast bitten off!). She decides to make an expedition to the jungle to find the tribe, taking a professor (played by Gemser’s real life husband and regular co-star Gabriele Tinti) and Susan Scott along, among others. After much erotic romping with both sexes, Emanuelle and her party are captured by the cannibals…
It’s hard to see who this was aimed at. The film has plenty of softcore sex, but it’s likely that the audience lured by the Emanuelle name would be repulsed by the graphic gore (which included graphic castration and some very poor optically created dismemberment), while horror fans would have assumed the film to simply be soft porn. However, the film has since gained a cult following, and is now seen as one of the highlights of the Black Emanuelle series. The film is now seen as a precursor to D’Amato’s sex-horror zombie films Erotic Nights of the Living Dead and Porno Holocaust.
The main theme of the soundtrack, by Nico Fidenco, was released as a seven inch single.
Buy Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals on DVD from Amazon.com
Buy Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals on DVD from Amazon.co.uk
