Skelton Knaggs usually played bad guys...
...and/or nutjobs, largely because of his rather unpleasant looks and creepy demeanor.
But in Val Lewton's 1945 classic "Isle of the Dead", in all-too-brief a role, Skelton gets to play a fellow so quietly endearing that you just wanna give him a hug.
Video by Porfle Popnecker. I neither own nor claim any rights to this material. Just having some fun with it. Thanks for watching!
Originally posted on 5/13/10
(This double-feature DVD contains HARD REVENGE MILLY and HARD REVENGE MILLY: BLOODY BATTLE.)
Milly wears a black leather trenchcoat to conceal the patchwork ruin of her ravaged body, and walks stiffly due to all of its robotic enhancements--including a shotgun embedded in her right leg that loads at the hip and fires at the knee, and a horrendous razor-edged rig that sprouts from her torso which, thank goodness, we never quite get a good look at.
She moves quickly and purposefully, preparing a bloody revenge against the thugs who massacred her family and left her for dead two years before. And when the blood-drenched hyper-action of HARD REVENGE MILLY (2008) kicks into high gear, it's a clear case of love at first sight for this giddy viewer.
After the repeal of all gun and sword laws, Yokohama, Japan 20XX A.D. is a wasteland of crime and violence where murder is sport and only the strong survive. Milly (Miki Mizuno, CARVED: THE SLIT-MOUTHED WOMAN) gets by on nothing more than the desire for revenge against the loathesome Jack Brothers, whose sadistic thrill-murder of her husband and baby grows more horrific with each flashback.
We never get a good look when she opens her jacket but it must be pretty messed-up, especially after we see her being brutally stabbed 20 or 30 times, and the extent of her surgical body modification is suggested rather shockingly during the finale.
Milly is an interesting character who's fun to watch, even if she's just preparing for her next duel or sitting somewhere reflecting on the past. Her meeting with former blade-sharpener Jubei in his dingy coffee bar, whom she asks to sharpen her retractable elbow-sword although he's retired from the death business, echoes Beatrix' meeting with Hattori Hanzo in KILL BILL.
All of the performances are fine, with Miki Mizuno and Mitsuki Koga as Jack being the stand-outs. In a cool opening sequence, Milly makes short work of Jack's drug-dealing brother Kyoshiro (splitting his torso with a bloody flash of her elbow sword), uses his body to create a grotesque welcoming display, and gives Jack a call inviting him to drop by.
When the surviving Jack Brothers arrive and encounter her in an abandoned building, it's one thrilling action-packed death duel after another. The dialogue leading up to this is funny as male and female Jack Brothers Tetsu and Yuma discuss how hungry they are after getting a whiff of Kyoshiro's roasting corpse on their way in. After that comes what is now one of my favorite death scenes ever--it's so cool that I found it wonderfully hilarious in its offhand audacity.
Milly's fight with Jack himself is an extended setpiece that yields a wealth of pleasures--their climactic clash of swords, guns, fists, and other arcane weaponry is dazzling. Takanori Tsujimoto's direction and editing are exquisite, and like the rest of the sublimely-staged action in this film it's executed with such imagination and style that watching it made me giddy. The furious choreography is first-rate considering that no doubles are used, and even the wirework is convincingly handled.
This is low-budget filmmaking driven by skill, creativity, and imagination to exceed its limitations and become a unique and scintillating entertainment that's every bit as satisfying as any multi-million-dollar production. Short and sweet (only 44 minutes long), it left me keen with anticipation for the feature-length follow-up.
HARD REVENGE MILLY: BLOODY BATTLE (2009) takes up where the previous film left off, with Milly now being hunted by Jack's bombastic gay lover Ikki (Kazuki Tsujimoto) and his accomplice Hyuma (Ray Fujita). "Jack was the craziest, sexiest man in the world!" Ikki declares as they plot their revenge.
Meanwhile, a timid young woman named Haru (Nao Nagasawa) has sought out Milly for a different purpose--to help her get revenge against the person who killed her lover. When they're both attacked in Milly's warehouse hideout (in the film's first bloody action scene), Milly takes the injured Haru to a fortified outpost called LAND to be treated by the same crazy doctor who delights in keeping Milly's mechanically-enhanced body in working order ("Don't let any other doctor touch that thing in your chest," he urges). Milly empathizes with Haru and agrees to help her, but this must be postponed when Ikki and his gang of killers invade LAND and launch a blazing attack.
With more time to develop the story and characters, writer-director Takanori Tsujimoto gives us more to contemplate while ratcheting up the action factor. The quiet moments are effective, such as Milly's melancholy reflections to Haru on the futility of revenge. Often the film looks and feels the way BLADE RUNNER might've been if Ridley Scott had done it as a no-budget indie feature. (Like certain characters in Scott's film, part-machine Milly begins to doubt the validity of her own memories; she won't let the doctor X-ray her head for fear of what he might find.) There are also welcome hints of such films as MAD MAX and THE CROW.
The script is brimming with interesting dialogue and the performances are outstanding. Again, the stunning and intricately choreographed (not to mention delightfully gory) fight sequences are bristling with imagination and the execution is often breathtaking. Takanori Tsujimoto keeps coming up with interesting ways to shoot and edit these scenes and introduces some thrilling variations on traditional weapons--I was on the verge of cheering when Milly went up against a horde of bad guys with her laser-sighted, bullet-spewing nunchaku.
As in the first film, there's a climactic battle with the baddest bad guy that's a free-for-all of frenetic fun, ending with another of my new all-time favorite multi-rewindable death scenes. (This one's a real doozy, folks.) There's even a surprising story twist that (hopefully) sets up the next sequel.
The double-feature DVD from Well Go USA, Inc. is in 16:9 widescreen with Dolby 5.1 stereo. Soundtrack is Japanese with English subtitles. Extras include trailers and "making of" featurettes for both films.
Visually interesting throughout, with an involving story and vivid characters, HARD REVENGE MILLY: BLOODY BATTLE is compelling sci-fi on a limited budget. It definitely gets a permanent spot in my DVD collection, in that special place where nobody can walk off with it and the dog won't eat it. I love this movie.
Originally posted on 3/12/17
"My first two kung fu movies consisted of a double feature of super-cheap, super-obscure flicks at my local cinema one night back in the early 70s. The titles have long receded into the sodden recesses of my memory but I wouldn't be surprised if their trailers appear somewhere on this disc."
My review of the previous kung fu trailer collection from Severin Films, KUNG FU TRAILERS OF FURY, began with this poignant moment of wistful nostalgia, and the same goes double for this new follow-up disc.
RETURN OF KUNG FU TRAILERS OF FURY, or "The Night the Kung Fu Trailers of Fury Came Home--Again", is more and more, and yet still more (35, to be exact) gloriously goofy previews of all those cheapo kung fu flicks that were being churned out by the rickshaw-load in Hong Kong back in the 70s.
Originally posted on 3/18/16
My first two kung fu movies consisted of a double feature of super-cheap, super-obscure flicks at my local cinema one night back in the early 70s. The titles have long receded into the sodden recesses of my memory but I wouldn't be surprised if their trailers appear somewhere on this disc.
For fans of Hong Kong chop-socky cinema, Severin Films' KUNG FU TRAILERS OF FURY doesn't disappoint. I mean, how could they mess up something as simple as a collection of kick-ass martial arts movie trailers?
This baby is wall-to-wall chops, socks, kicks, flips, bad subtitles, insane wirework, and general weirdness of a kind that can only be found in the wildest and most creative examples of the martial arts genre.
Originally posted on 4/1/16
If you recognized the lovely face of 50s burlesque star Tempest Storm on the cover and it made you smile, then chances are Severin's new Blu-ray release of THAT'S SEXPLOITATION! (2013) will be right up your grindhouse aisle.
Host Frank Henenlotter, writer and director of the cult classic BASKET CASE, not only performs the same duties here but also gets his friend David F. Friedman to appear on-camera throughout.
Friedman, as many will know, was the veteran producer/showman who gave us such films as BLOOD FEAST and was integral in supplying the roadshow crowd with many of their favorite nudie flicks over the years.
Originally posted on 8/2/18
One of the last of the "pure" ghost stories to appear on the big screen, 1980's THE CHANGELING (Severin Films) is noteworthy for its intent to send chills up and down our spines without resorting to any graphic violence or gore, and with hardly a jump scare to be found.
The premise, reportedly based on actual events, is simple: composer and music teacher John Russell (George C. Scott), deeply grieving the tragic loss of his wife and daughter, moves into a massive old mansion that turns out to be haunted.
His raw emotional state seems to attract a troubled spirit within the house, which reaches out to him. As frightening paranormal events continue to frazzle his nerves and ours, John and a sympathetic lady friend, Claire (Scott's real-life wife Trish Van Devere), endeavor to solve the mystery behind whoever may have died violently in the house and is now a restless and potentially dangerous supernatural entity.
Originally posted on 6/12/20
Poor Gary--just when he achieves every man's fondest fantasy (well, many of us, anyway) of being the only guy stranded in a remote location with a bevy of beautiful babes, he gets bitten by a big, hairy mutant arachnid and becomes one of the HORRORS OF SPIDER ISLAND (Severin Films, 1960).
These days a film like this German trash classic is usually described as "cheesy", which, admittedly, is rather apt since it's cheap, it's goofy, and it has all the dramatic gravitas of a dime-store sex and horror pulp novel come to sordid life.
It's main qualities are either pros or cons, depending on your point of view. Bad movie fans will love the dumb dialogue and situations, florid performances, and overheated plot that has its over-emoting cast either engaged in steamy sex clinches or running from hairy, fanged monsters through the jungle.
Originally posted on 10/7/2010
When psycho artist Victor Clare says he wants to "immortalize" you, run! Chances are he wants to introduce you to his CRUCIBLE OF TERROR (1971) and turn you into a bronze statue, as he does the lovely Chi-San (Me Me Lay) in the opening scene of this passable but pedestrian British horror film.
Victor's drink-addled son Mike (Ronald Lacey) swipes some of Dad's artworks and plans to sell them through his cash-strapped friend John (James Bolam), who runs an art gallery. Chi-San's bronze likeness is coveted by a mesmerized patron who meets a smothery end when he breaks into the gallery later to try and steal it. The next day, John and Mike, along with their wives Millie (Mary Maude) and Jane (Beth Morris), set off for Victor's remote villa in hopes of persuading him to let them sell more of his work.
Victor, as we already know from the first scene, is sort of a poor man's Christopher Lee and actor Mike Raven speaks with a lisp which is either natural or an attempt to sound like Boris Karloff. Tiring of his current model-slash-lover Marcia (Judy Matheson), Victor aims his hopped-up hormones first at daughter-in-law Jane and then at the lovely Millie, with whom he becomes rabidly obsessed. We figure Millie will eventually end up in Victor's lair beneath the abandoned tinworks next door, where he keeps his crucible stoked and ready. But first, his houseguests begin to get murdered one by one and we're never really sure who's doing it.
While somewhat bloody, the murders are few and far between and not that excitingly staged. The rest of the film consists of much dialogue dotted with some occasional suspense, and moves at a snail's pace. You really have to settle into this one and learn to like the characters and their melodramatic interactions to keep from nodding off. I managed to enjoy it well enough thanks to a few fairly good performances, some nice-looking babes, and the mystery of who the killer was. But if THE TERROR was too slow for you, this will really put you into a coma.
Production values are on the chintzy side, with tiny interior sets that make everything look cramped--even John's art gallery seems to be located in someone's garage. Exteriors, however, are another story, with director Ted Hooker taking full advantage of some remote English locations that are quite atmospheric. Direction and photography are dry as a bone save for a few garish touches now and then. While lively compared to the rest of the film, the big action-suspense finale is rather haphazardly staged and is sillier than it is scary.
As Victor, Mike Raven (described on the DVD box as a "popular Pirate Radio DJ and known occultist" making a vain attempt at horror stardom) comes off as more of a pushy lothario than a figure of fear. Ronald Lacey, later to gain fame as Nazi villian Toht in RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, is amusing as Victor's drunk, ne'er-do-well son Mike, whose fed-up wife Jane tells him, "Respect? I'll respect you when you stop making me sick!" Mary Maude, who resembles Barbara Hershey, doesn't make much of an impression as Millie; more interesting are Beth Morris as sassy Jane and Judy Matheson as devious Marcia.
In the role of art gallery owner John, James Bolam is about as interesting as a dish of asparagus. HORROR OF DRACULA's Melissa Stribling appears briefly as one of his wealthy patrons. Best of all, perhaps, is Betty Alberge as Victor's neglected wife Dorothy, who's not only too old to ring his ding-a-ling any longer but is totally out of her gourd as well, creeping around the house dressed like a little girl and muttering to her dolls. Trying to figure out which one of these characters is the mysterious killer will probably keep you guessing.
The DVD from Severin Films is in 1.78:1 widescreen with Dolby Digital English mono. Picture quality is good. There are no extras.
I can't say I was terribly bored by this film, since it maintained my interest reasonably well all the way to the end and does have a certain shabby charm. But I didn't find it particularly exciting, either. A brief flash of nudity in the opening scene fails to be repeated later on, which may disappoint some viewers, and the actual horror content is relatively sparse. One thing I did learn from it, though--if anyone ever offers to "immortalize" you, make darn sure they don't have a CRUCIBLE OF TERROR bubbling away in their basement.
Originally posted on 10/7/2010
Here's an odd little artifact from the early 70s--a horror movie with no real horror or scares, a biker movie without a single "real" biker, and what appears to be an exploitation flick that's as tame as an extended episode of an old TV series. In fact, director Don Sharp (CURSE OF THE FLY) helmed a few episodes of "The Avengers" and brings the same competent but rather dry style to PSYCHOMANIA, aka "The Death Wheelers" (1973), turning it into a pleasantly diverting yet ultimately bland experience.
Still, this seems to be a fondly-remembered flick for a lot of people (including Fangoria editor Chris Alexander, who gushes about it during his five-minute introduction), especially those who look back on it through that nostalgic VHS-bargain-bin haze of their youth. I can imagine enjoying it a lot more on a drive-in screen or some obscure late-night TV slot. Seeing it now for the first time on DVD, it doesn't quite conjure up that magical feeling I still get from so many other guilty-pleasure films of that era. Yet it's definitely an enjoyable little piece of goofball cinema.
The main characters are a group of post-mod juvenile delinquent boys and girls who call themselves "The Living Dead" and ride around on wimpy bikes terrorizing the proper English citizenry. Their leader, Tom (Nicky Henson, WITCHFINDER GENERAL), is a handsome sociopath whose mother (Beryl Reid, THE KILLING OF SISTER GEORGE) practices the occult arts. From her, he learns that if one willingly commits suicide with the firm intention of returning from the dead, it will happen. In one of the film's best scenes, Tom--buried by his friends in a sitting position on his beloved motorcycle--comes roaring up out of the grave in a shower of dirt.
After amazing the rest of the gang with his unexpected return, they can't wait to go out and start offing themselves in amusing ways. These include some nice stunt scenes with them lunging off bridges and buildings, skydiving without parachutes, and (my favorite) crashing their motorcycles through the back end of a moving truck. Now undead and unstoppable, the lethal pranksters go on a rampage which consists mainly of running motorists off the road and trashing a supermarket. The latter scene features another cool stunt with bad girl Jane (Ann Michelle) gleefully running over a baby carriage and then crashing into a glass display case.
Tom, meanwhile, is having the time of his afterlife until he discovers that his girlfriend Abby (Mary Larkin), a nice girl at heart, isn't keen on dying. This takes some of the fun out of spree-killing for poor Tom, who gives Abby an ultimatum--either die, or he will kill her. Tough choice! Disturbed by her son's evil ways, Mom takes steps to stop him with the help of her devoted servant, Shadwell, who is played by none other than top-billed George Sanders. If Sanders looks a little bored in the role, which must've been a disheartening end to his distinguished film career, it's because he was soon to commit suicide with boredom being specified as one of the reasons in his farewell note. However, his presence along with Reid's does help to class the movie up a little.
The actors portraying the "Living Dead" gang do an okay job, with Ann Michelle as Jane and Denis Gilmore (who reminds me a bit of Michael J. Pollard) as "Hatchet" making the biggest impression. As a biker gang, though, these dweebs are a mixed-up bunch who kill for fun one minute and sit around singing folk songs and making floral wreaths the next. Tom burial is accompanied by an ear-bending acoustic guitar ballad lip-synched by Miles Greenwood (as "Chopped Meat") while the corpse sits upright, mounted on his motorcycle, in the open grave. In a film surprisingly devoid of the droll humor one might expect, this is definitely the most stupefyingly hilarious image.
The DVD from Severin Films is in 1.78:1 widescreen and Dolby Digital mono. Taken from the best available print as the original negative is deemed lost, the image quality is good. Extras include the lovingly-rendered 25-minute documentary "Return of the Living Dead", which features a charming Nicky Henson along with several other original castmembers. "The Sound of Psychomania" offers composer John Cameron's recollections of creating the film's score. In addition to Chris Alexander's introduction to the film and the original trailer, singer Harvey Andrews recalls recording the vocals to the awful folk song "Riding Free" which is heard during Tom's burial scene.
With the emphasis on stunts and some really exciting car and bike chase sequences (but very little actual violence), PSYCHOMANIA's supernatural aspect is treated so lightly and matter-of-factly that it hardly registers. Dying and coming back just seems to make these young smarties a little snarkier. After an early scene in which Tom ventures into a mysterious locked room in search of some occult epiphany (his vision of a floating bullfrog shrouded in mist doesn't quite terrify), there's no attempt to scare viewers in any way until the slightly creepy ending. What makes the film watchable is that it's lively, quirky, endearingly retro, and enjoyably dumb.
Originally posted on 11/7/2016
You start to notice a difference right away between this and the usual "Mondo Cane"-type shockumentary that you might be expecting when you first start watching it. THE KILLING OF AMERICA (1981) isn't just about showing us violence in order to satisfy our more prurient interests, but to help us come to grips with it and, hopefully, begin to understand it.
Not that there's really anything to understand, because violence like this is mostly as far removed from reason and rationality as it can be. The scariest thing about what we see, in fact, is the randomness, unpredictability, and total incomprehensibility of it all, particularly in the case of spree-killers, serial killers, and glazed-eyed zealots.
The documentary begins in the early 60s, when director Sheldon Renan and co-writer Leonard Schrader (whose brother Paul wrote TAXI DRIVER) believe that America's psyche was forever altered by the assassination of John F. Kennedy. From that point and into the 80s, as Renan remarks in his commentary, "the weirdness of the killing, the numbers of people killed, and the craziness of the violence just continued to escalate."
Originally posted on 2/21/19
Bad movie fans love to wander through that magical, dreamlike territory created when a low-budget, made-on-a-shoestring horror movie transcends its badness to become an almost blissfully immersive experience in "so bad it's good"-ness.
One movie that easily transports willing viewers to that wacky wonderland of the twisted mind is INVASION OF THE BLOOD FARMERS (Severin Films, 1972). This makeshift affair was filmed on three weekends with actors paid mostly with six packs of beer (the highest-paid thespian in the cast received a whopping $25) on rural locations in upstate New York.
Director and co-writer (with Ed Kelleher) Ed Adlum, who also produced and co-wrote SHRIEK OF THE MUTILATED, planned for this to be an alien invasion movie, but economy forced him to make it about druids who are kidnapping people and draining them of their blood in an isolated farmhouse, hoping to find the right blood type that will reanimate their sleeping Queen Onhorrid and please the underworld gods that they worship.
