Flicks: From Beyond (1986)

In ancient 1986 America, primitive man used gory horror to communicate with his world.

Director Stuart Gordon and actor Jeffery Combs were a solid 80's horror duo that made a handful of great movies, including Re-Animator (1985) and From Beyond (1986). Many of their movies remain cult classics today. The unmistakable combination of scripting, shot composition and performances made over-filmed b-movie material (mad scientists, zomboids and half-naked bunnies) come to a new and shocking life. As one of Gordon/Combs strongest films From Beyond was recently re-released on DVD, including extra scenes deleted due to MPAA censorship in 1986, on September 11^th 2007.

Gordon, a Viet Nam era anti-war activist with roots in Chicago, tends to display a unique understanding of Lovecraftian horror and has been quoted^[0] as saying: "The Lovecraft purists are always very upset with me because I'm always throwing nudity into these movies ... my argument is that there is a tremendous sexuality about Lovecraft, and a fear of sex, taking the reproductive act and turning it into something monstrous."

In From Beyond, originally written by Lovecraft in 1920 and first published in 1934 in The Fantasy Fan, Dr. Pretorius (Ted Sorel as a Bride of Frankenstein character role) and his colleagues conduct experiments on the mysterious pineal gland in order to open the human mind to unknown and otherworldly dimensions. When the experiment succeeds the researchers are attacked by twisted alien creatures, which unbeknownst to mortal man, are floating around the periphery of his pale consciousness constantly.


Hospital personnel are the cornerstone of any healthy patient's diet.

When Dr. Pretorius is killed his assistant, Dr. Crawford Tillinghast (Jeffrey Combs)^[1], falls under suspicion and is locked up in the Psyche Ward due to his halting explanations. Only an ambitious psychologist Dr. McMichaels (the frequently freaked Barbara Crampton)^[2] believes him and wants to continue Pretorious' dubious experimentation.

As the plot thickens, the presumed dead Doc Pretorious returns transmogrified^[3] and then toplessness and terror ensue! From Beyond is a genuinely scary film with amazing special effects from former Videodrome (1983) make-up assistant Mark Shostrom. Shostrom also created the practicals for Evil Dead II (1987), A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985), A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987) and Phantasm II (1988).

From Beyond easliy earns itself a total of four manling skulls outta a possible four!

Notes:
[0] = Quoted from Stuart Gordon's IMBD biography.
[1] = Jeffrey Combs played the silent role of the insane Dr. Vannacutt in the 1999 remake of House On Haunted Hill starring Geoffrey Rush and Famke Janssen according to a recent interview.
[2] = Barbara Compton, a pale blonde with a bodacious bod, also appeared in Re-Animator in 1985.
[3] = Transmogrify Originally an ancient alchemy term to change grotesquely from one form into another. In Pretorius and Tillinghast's cases, from the human to the demi or quasi human.



References:
Wikipedia, Stuart Gordon
IMDB, Stuart Gordon
IMDB From Beyond (1986)
Wikipedia, From Beyond (film)
Dagobytes, From Beyond by H.P. Lovecraft
Sinematics, Pineal Envy Part IV
Horror Files, Psyche Ward Files

From Beyond on DVD and Video-On-Demand is available at:

Flicks: The Howling (1981)

What? Where "wolf"? Oh yeah - there wolf.

A Happy Fangsgiving to all with Joe Dante's (Gremlins) The Howling (1981). The original Howling was indeed directed by Mr. Joe Dante of Gremlins (1984) fame and based on the novels by Gary Brandner.

The movie follows female tv reporter Dee Wallace (Elliot's Mom in Spielberg's ET (1981)*) who investigates a series of gory murders committed by a serial killer. The killer attempts to wolf down victim after victim after metamorphosizing and changing into a burly, hawngry werewolf.

Robert Piccardo (later to be featured as an innocuous medical hologram in Star Trek Voyager) stars as Eddie the outcast werewolf. After being presumed dead, the result of the reporter setting him up, Eddie and his commune dwelling werewolf pals swear revenge starting with a cameo by John Carradine as Crazy Old Man.


Makin' it with a were-chick is a risky business but totally worth it.

The make-up by Rick Baker of American Werewolf in London (1981) fame, transformation effects and bold usage of T+A made the original film near and dear to many a gorehound's heart.

The Howling became a franchise of sequels, five in the 80's and two more in the 90's with increasingly plummeting production values. The series culminated in seven uneven installments - adding veteran actor Christopher Lee in part two of the hair-raising series subtitled: Your Sister Is A Werewolf.

The Howling Series:
The Howling (1981)
The Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf (1985)
The Howling III: The Marsupials (1987)
Howling IV: The Original Nightmare (1988)
Howling V: The Rebirth (1989)
Howling VI: The Freaks (1991)
Howling VII: New Moon Rising (1995)

References:
IMDB, The Howling
Eccentric Cinema, The Howling
Horrorphile, The Howling

The Howling Video-On-Demand available at:

Robo-Geisha (2009)

Why are the pretty ones are always so sharp tongued?

Inter-genre action flick (kung-fu vs kaiju) with impressive effects, chicksploitation hack and slash features some great model/minature work in the style of 60's and 70's era Toho Godzilla movies.

A fast-paced and fun romp through Japanese cultural cliches, history and humor with some of Tarantino's Kill Bill styled fights.

References:
IMDB, RoboGeiaha (2009)



Robo-Geisha is available at:

Sites: Eccentric Cinema

Oh is the ever-lovin' Sleaze-A-Saurus really cheesed off this time...

The Sleaze-A-Saurus hates it when another good web site about bad movies comes together! It's serious type competition, see? Well, little manlings, the R-Rated Eccentric Cinema.com apparently combines a deep selection of offbeat, gimmicky and classic splatter films such as Assault Precinct 13 (1976), Ninja III: The Domination, Blacula along with many more truly tasteless b-movies and offers a humorous perspective on each.

Day of the Dead, Deadly Spawn and Fortress Amerikkka - in their respective order.

Webmaster Brian Lindsey and a national series of guest reviewers shine a collective light over 60+ years of B-movie coffins - complete with MIDI clips, screen grabs, DVD extra breakdowns and details on actors, directors and even plot points. However, there can be only ONE B-movie A-list and believe you me, manlings - The Sleaze-A-Saurus will soon pay his horribly gelatinous respects to one Mr. Brian Lindsey of Eccentric Cinema.

References:
Eccentric Cinema, A to Z Reviews

Flicks: The Big Bird Cage (1972)

Mud wrasslin' is the traditional Los Angeleno answer to most conflicts.

The Big Bird Cage is a classic exploitation movie starring the Big Three of 70's B-Stars Pam Grier (Coffee and Jackie Brown), Sid Haig (House Of 1,000 Corpses and Spiderbaby), Anitra Ford (Messiah Of Evil and Invasion Of The Bee Girls), Directed by Jack Hill (Spiderbaby) and shot in the genre of Women-In-Prison much like it's $10 million dollar earning predecessor The Big Doll House (1971).

This action picture is set in an Indo-Chinese death camp (filmed in Luzon) where beautiful female prisoners are enslaved by guffawing Phillipinos and forced to fight to survive. Soon into the flick, buildings burn, mud wrasslin' erupts, guards get diced up with machetes, women get mowed down by automatic gunfire, and the venerable Sid Haig and Pam Grier meet their ultimate demise in a classic last stand death sequence.


Whaddaya say we sort this out like Angelenos? Or are you just a jive-ass turkey?

The movie is not for the squeamish (in part due to the fact producers wanted to cash in on American anger against the Vietnamese and infatuation with wrasslin' babes) but it is perfect for yer ol' pal the Sleaze-A-Saurus. The Big Bird Cage easily earns itself four manling skulls outta a possible four!

Notes:
The Big Bird Cage's director Jack Hill also made the classic Spiderbaby which is being remade - according to an announcement at IMDB. The director attached to this picture is Greencastle, Indiana native Jeffrey Broadstreet (Night Of The Living Dead 3D).



References:
IMDB, The Big Bird Cage
IMDB, Pam Grier
Wikipedia, The Big Bird Cage
Analog Medium, Chick-sploitation '72
Uh-Oh! A Go-Go, Original Big Bird Cage Art

The Big Bird Cage on DVD and Video-On-Demand is available at:

Flicks: Black Christmas (1974)

Olivia Hussey and Margot Kidder scream of a Scary Christmas in '74.

Scary Christmas, manlings! Last year audiences thrilled at The Sleaze-A-Saurus's Silent Night Deadly Night Axe-Mass Terrorthon making it kind of hard to top actually.

This year yer ol' pal the Sleaze-A-Saurus presents another kind of Axe-Mess treat: the original 1970's version of Black Christmas (1974).


Oh that beautiful actress by the wreath. Olivia Hussey being cute-as-a-button in Black Christmas (1974).

The well-written and acted Black Christmas stars Olivia Hussey (Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet) Margot Kidder (Superman) and often under-rated John Saxon (Enter The Dragon and A Nightmare On Elm Street) and directed by Bob Clark (Porky's, The Karate Dog, Baby Geniuses). In a 70's sorority house the phone is ringing off the hook! And guess whose callin'? Who else but a sweaty obscene caller with his mind-on-murder and murder-on-his-mind, dig Daddy-O?


David Carradine jokes aside - this never turns out OK.

Before long the whole house is in stitches, gone to pieces and a bit strung out (mostly in piles) as the mysterious caller shares his overwhelming Axe-Mass spirit with each and every one of the beautiful sorority sisters - in person and in the flesh. The film is very good - high tension and good performances from the leads, Black Christmas earns itself four manling skulls outta a possible four!

Here's wishing a Scary Christmas and Choppy Axe-Mass to all scaleless manlings, everywhere.



References:
IMDB, Black Christmas (1974)
Horrorphile, Bleck X-Mas (1974)
Movie Genie, Black Christmas
DVD Dino-bots, Black X-Mas (1974)

Black Christmas is available at:

Flicks: Humongous (1982)

That's Mr. H-U-M-O-N-G-O-U-S to you.

Big Foot + Big Screen = Big Bucks - that's the right stuff! Big Foot, that mischievous arboreal ape-man, has made numerous appearances on the big screen from the infamous, underground Geek (1971) to the mainstream Hairy And The Hendersons (1987). Add to that proud list: Humongous (1982). The Canadian made film was shot in 1 month in August of 1981 and merrily crosses the genres of Rape-Revenge and Sasquatch-On-The-Rampage in a mostly unpleasant to watch combination of badly lit scenes, early melodrama and grossly under-acted roles.

A woman's drunken rape leads to the birth of a hideous "It's Alive!" styled creature who grows up to be grudgefull super-mutant on an isolated island. Brain dead yuppies soon arrive by yacht on Humongous's island. One by one the yuppies are hunted down by the noble, loping gigantor. Things go extremely well for the blood-thirsty yeti (♥!) until poor old Humongous falls prey to the pyrotechnic wiles of the arch-typical Lone Female Survivor.

Humongous director Paul Lynch later went onto direct Star Trek: TNG episodes and has recently directed Sci-Fi channel productions including Savage Planet. Ida's son/Humongous, the 7" 1' tall Garry Robbins, went on to feature as a heavy more films including In The Mouth Of Madness (1995) and Wrong Turn (2003).



References:
IMDB, Humongous (1982)
Wikipedia, Humongous Movie
F-Ghoul, VHS Week, Day 4: Humongous
Canuck-sploitation, Le Humongous

Humongous is available at:

Flicks: Schizoid (1980)

Dear Stabby, when will I ever meet the man of my screams?

Klaus Kinski starred in a number of horror films as sort of a high end "A" film actor for low end "B" flicks. Kinski, born in Berlin in 1929, was drafted into the WWII Wehrmacht in 1944 soon after taken POW in the Netherlands. After the war, Kinski appeared in dozens of Italian giallos and cheaply made European slasher flicks such as Venom (1982)^[0], Asylum Erotica (1971) and Schizoid (1980).

Schizoid (aka Murder By Mail) co-stars Christopher Lloyd (Doc from Back To The Future) and the beautiful Marianna Hill (Messiah Of Evil) as Julie. Julie, a Dear Abby type of newspaper columnist, finds herself the center of obsession for a mysterious serial stabber (Dear Stabby?) who spends the movie dicing up the female members of Julie's therapy group. Suspicion immediately falls on head Headshrinker Kinksi as Pieter. Zaniness and big freak-outs ensue. Roll credits!

Notes:
[0] = Another "A" actor turned B-movie hero Oliver Reed costars in Venom (1980).



References:
IMDB,Schizoid (1980)
IMDB,Klaus Kinski
IMDB,Marianna Hill
1000 Misspent Hours, Schizoid (1980)
Exploitation Station, Hotel Slaughter/Asylum Erotica (1971)
Direct-To-Video Blog, Splitzoid

Schizoid is available at:

Flicks: Cinderella 2000 (1977)

Who needs "production values" when you've got porn 'staches and upbeat musical numbers about abstinence?

The Sleaze-A-Saurus has become quite disturbed! After observing many, many manling teleplays he has noticed an alarming trend. Manling horror films and manling porno films are the same thing! You dare scoff? Then, I present to you, scaleless ones, Cinderella 2000, a sci-fi/horror film starring porn starlet Catharine Burgess (star of Through The Looking Glass) aka "Catherine Erhardt".

Director Al Adamson strikes again. with a a movie full of groans and a few moans in this late 70's Star Wars rip-off. Cinderella 2000 features some Kentucky Fried Movie (1977) moments of irreverent satire while offering a straight faced demand for "free love". Cinderella 2000 earns itself a whopping zero manling skulls outta a possible four manling skulls!


References:
IMDB, Cinderella 2k
Youtube, Trailer
Cinema Chite, C2K
Sex. Gore. Mutants., Skinderella 2000

Cinderella 2000 is available at:

Collections: Bettie Page Zines

Most of the collection shown here represents Men's cheesecake mags mostly from the mid-1950's to 1960. Bettie Page's image has been used for the five decades since as a sex symbol without her permission or royalties paid.

After being drummed outta modeling in 1958, modeling that is extremely tame by today's standards, Bettie disappeared from public life until she passed away in late December of 2008 in LA.

For more on Page, read the Sleaze Blender article here.

Flicks: The Mutations (1974)

The 70's really knew how to give good trailer.

The Mutations (aka Freak Maker) stars Tom Baker (the best of the classic Dr. Who) and Donald Pleasence (Dr. Loomis from the original Halloween movies) in a 70's era sideshow story. Former Beatles assistant, model and actress Julie Ege stars as the very lovely redhead, Hedi.

Mutations features many of Hollywood's 10-in-1 performers from the latter days of traveling shows but mainly relies on genre awareness including Tod Browning's excellent Freaks (1933) or later with Drive In Massacre (1976) featuring former circus performers killing patrons of a drive-in built on old circus grounds.

Baker, in an a attempt to stretch his acting chops from a lovable erratic genius and all around cheeky Jelly-Baby munching doofus turns in the same kind of role that killed his acting career in motion pictures beginning with Sinbad's Golden Voyage.


References:
IMDB, The Mutations (1974)
Cavegirls in Bikinis, Julie Ege
Dos Ickies, Incredible Melting Man & The Mutations
Area Zero, Mad Baker's Dozen

The Mutations are available at: