Sleaze Blender

Flicks: The Gerber Syndrome (2011)

2012-02-03T00:01:00.004-05:00

In post-Apocalyptic Italy, everyone can hear you scream!

Italian horror films occupy a special place in yer ol' pal The Sleaze-A-Saurus's ventricle gland. Good Italian horror films are very hu-mon responses to cruelty and inhumane mania that have been prominently featured in the films of Dario Argento (Suspira, Deep Red), Antonio Margheriti (aka Tony Flowers, Anthony Bloom - Cannibal Apocalypse, Flesh for Frankenstein) and Lucio Fulci (Zombie franchise, The New York Ripper).

Today newcomer Maxi Dejoie, who wrote and directed The Gerber Syndrome, encapsulates this cultural mania in a disease called Gerber's Syndrome, a type of fast-spreading and incurable illness that makes it's victims develop a kind of homicidal rabies.

Shot in the updated cinema-verite (raw theater) in faux documentary form the movie follows the Syndrome as it spreads like wild fire into an Italian city where the main characters are forced to confront this new plague.

References:
IMDB, The Gerber Syndrome (2011)
Quiet Earth, Sci-Fi London Review
List Mania, Italian Horror Film Directors

Flicks: Gamera 3: The Revenge Of Iris (1999)

2012-02-01T00:01:00.092-05:00

So I like 500-foot-tall toortles. Sue me, already.

Now that all annual hu-mon festivities have concluded for this portion of the pathetically inaccurate Earthling "year" it is time to get back to doing what the Blender does best - watching terrible movies with his growing gang of manling pals on the Internet.

Gamera is an unlikely Godzilla clone from 1965. There are only two things that anyone needs to about the original "Showa" era Gamera. ONE, the giant toortle emerged from, of all the frickin places, Antarctica. And TWO, he used to suck. And I mean Gamera used to suck in the way that only Twilight and True Blood fans come close to resembling. In that typically shallow, dim-witted and narcissistic way that makes Erkel look like "Downtown" Jackie Brown. O.G. Gamera sucked bad. Get me?

In the 90's, Studio Daiei revived the series in a spectacular way. No longer was Gamera a Godzilla rip-off but a series in it's own right. Cutting edge effects/FX incorporated brand spanking new CG imagery to allow Gamera to fly minus the clunky strings and to shoot fire at an astonishing realistic clip. The models improved drastically. By The Revenge in 1999, the traditional kiddie market for kaiju was nearly forgotten by the film-makers, and giving this "Hesei" era series a horrifying and gruesome new life leading into the Millenial era to come.

A total of three amazing Gamera flicks, all directed by Shusuke Kaneko (Death Note) were released from 1995 to 1999: Gamera: Guardian of the Universe, Gamera 2: Attack of Legion and Gamera 3: The Revenge Of Iris. Iris is regarded as one of the finest films of the late Hesei era.

In 2010, the Blu-Ray contains a deep commentary with actors and the award-winning of the now defunct ADV (Super Milk Chan) crew who dubbed the English version of the film.

References:
IMDB, Gamera 3: The Revenge Of Iris (1999)
Wikipedia, Gamera: Guardian Of The Universe
Wikipedia, Gamera 3: The Awakening Of Irys

Slash-Mess Day 0: Savage Sisters! (1974)

2011-12-25T00:01:00.005-05:00

These three ladies mean business, brother!

Scary Slash-Mess to all! So, you've managed to make it this far into Slash-Mess, eh, puny hu-mon? The Sleaze-A-Saurus is most impressed with your above average tolerance to exploitation cinema.

As a deviation from your ridiculous culture's pastime of watching cheap simulations of dainty fe-male hu-mons being raped and tortured The Sleaze-A-Saurus presents fe-male hu-mons kicking the asses of the males of your species in: Savage Sisters! (1974).

References:
IMDB, Savage Sisters (1974)
Score Film, Savage Sisters (1974)

Slash-Mess Day 1: Women's Prison Massacre (1983)

2011-12-24T00:01:00.007-05:00

Emmanuel Goes To Hell - pretty much the only thing she didn't do in the movie series.

Softcore meets WIP in Women's Prison Massacre - an "Emmanuelle" movie in disguise. Women's Prison Massacre stars the sultry brunette from the Emmanuel series, Laura Gemser. Gemser is a beautiful woman of Indonesian descent who is today an Italian citizen who starred in 57 movies during her career from 1974-1994. The Emanuelle series included: Emanuelle's Daughter (1980), Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals (1977), Emanuelle in America (1977), and Black Emanuelle (1975).

Gemser, who also was a costume designer for 12 motion pictures, retired from movies in 1994.

References:
IMDB, Emanuelle fuga dall'inferno (1969)
Snake Plissken's Haus, Women's Party Massacre (1983)
Planet Terror, Women's Prison Massacre (1983)
Brian's Drive-In, Women's Prison '83

Slash-Mess Day 2: Love Camp 7 (1969)

2011-12-23T00:01:00.033-05:00

In the wild, wild world of WIP/Naziploitation films the first casualty is the audience's patience for lousy scripts.

One of what U.K. government film censors declared bad enough to labeled as a "Video Nasty", making it banned in Britain in the 1980's, was also considered so bad that in 2002 the British Board Of Film Classification (BBFC) refused to even rate it for a DVD re-release! All of this aside, the flick is widely regarded one as the first of the sub-genres of women-in-prison (WIP) and nazisploitation movies. It was directed by the late, great Lee Frost (writer of the Thing With Two Heads, director of Black Gestapo) and written by Wes Bishop (co-star of Chain Gang Women).

The movie is a cult classic and represents the beginning of a series of exploitation films about women in prison in the 1970's, such as Women in Cages (1971) and The Big Bird Cage (1972), both of which made Pam Grier's career in the genre. It is also the first in the Nazi exploitation (or Nazisploitation) genre of concentration camp movies, that includes Canadian Ilsa: She-Wolf of the SS (1974) which was produced by David F. Friedman (Something Weird Video co-founder) and led to several sequels with Dyanne Thorne as the titular character, the Italian Nazi Love Camp 27 (1977) and Last Orgy of the Third Reich (1977).

References:
IMDB, Love Camp 7 (1969)
Wikipedia, Love Camp 7
Stomp Tokyo, Love Camp 7 (1969)
Dead Duck, Lee Frost's Love Camp
Score Film, Love Camp

Slash-Mess Day 3: Chain Gang Women (1971)

2011-12-22T00:01:00.036-05:00

Life sure is different on a chain gang - for one: there's a chain.

Despite the all-around awesome title this not a women-in-prison or "WIP" movie. In fact, there isn't a single women in the movie until damn near the halfway point of this awful hicksploitation film that was written by the late, great Lee Frost (writer of The Thing With Two Heads, director of Black Gestapo).

Chain Gang Women (1971) is basically Cool Hand Luke as shot by cornpone meth heads with a thing for poorly staged rape scenes. The first 30 minutes are set in a boring country prison with two hammy convicts that escape when the lone lard-ass sheriff guarding their group of dangerous convicts is attacked on said chain gang.

The two escapees are a classic odd couple with one being a model prisoner with a 6 month sentence for Marajuana named "Weed" and the other a desperate hyper-horny thug doing life for Rape and Murder, Coleman, played by Wes Bishop. The two take to the "Georgia" countryside (SoCal of course) and while on the lam they manage to stage a few awkward, but also grimy, grope fests with the only two unsuspecting hu-mon women in the entire film.

References:
IMDB, Chain Gang Women (1971)
Blogo Trasho, But There Ain't No Women In Chain Gang Women, Boss

Slash-Mess Day 4: The Black Gestapo (1975)

2011-12-21T00:01:00.021-05:00

Ladies and Germs, the Sleaze-A-Saurus presents the worst blaxploitation movie - EVER.

A random mix of obscenities, dated 70's lingo and jive-ass turkeys permeate this truly awful blaxploitation gem from 1975. Chocked full of pointless nudity, poorly choreographed fight scenes, and multiple overdubs of Hitler-era Germany The Black Gestapo (aka Ghetto Warriors) was made to scare the Jesus out of middle America by cashing in on it's fears of the honorable Black Panther Party that felt like it was at war with the world but actually did not pose any serious threat to it.

Former L.A. Rams Cornerback (1976-1981) Rob Perry (S.W.A.T. The TV Series, Black Godfather) stars as General Ahmed who started an inner-city People's Army to try and relieve the misery of the citizens of Watts. And if any place on God's green Earth needed relief it was Watts. His co-star, Charles Robinson is better known as Mac Robinson from Night Court.

The Black Gestapo was made by the late great Lee Frost who also wrote The Thing With Two Heads (1972) starring Ray Miland (Lost Weekend, X The Man With X-Ray Eyes) and Rosy Grier as a pretty unlikely surgically combined murder-machine, Mondo Bizarro (1966), Chain Gang Girls (1971) and directed the cult classic The Defilers in 1965!

References:
IMDB, The Black Gestapo (1975)
IMDB, Lee Frost
Wikipedia, The Black Gestapo

Slash-Mess Day 5: Return Of The Living Dead (1985)

2011-12-20T00:01:00.000-05:00

Dan O'Bannon (Aliens writer) directs his own version of the Night Of The Living Dead.

When a bumbling pair of employees at a medical supply warehouse accidentally release a deadly gas into the air, the vapors cause the dead to once again arise from their watery graves and go on a cannibalistic rampage through Louisville, Kentucky. Here, the re-animated hu-mons seek out seeking their most favorite of foods, KFC: Kentucky Fried Chippies.

The steady and nuanced direction by Dan O'Bannon, writer of "Alien", run through out this brilliant installment of Romero's zombie genre that revolves around counter-culture outcasts (punkers, new wavers and beady eyed morticians), maximum effects and then: even endowing some of the zombies with a limited power of speech (Send...more...paramedics...SNARF!). Dark humor, excellent undead effects, prosthetic make-up and much better casting make this 80's update a classic in it's own right.

References:
IMDB, Night Of The Living Dead (1985)
IMDB, Tom Savini

Slash-Mess Day 6: Night Of The Living Dead (1990)

2011-12-19T00:01:00.020-05:00

You-Know-Who knew that Mr. Tom Savini directed his own version of the Night Of The Living Dead in the 90's. Nerds.

Special Effects guru and actor Tom Savini (Friday The 13th, Dusk 'Til Dawn (1996)) directed his own version of the Night Of The Living Dead (1990). Tony Todd (Candy Man, Final Destination) stars this time as Ben, arguably the Duane role from the original in 1968.

You gotta love Bill Moseley (Devils Rejects and House Of 1000 Corpses) cast as everybody's favorite early casualty, Johnny, who before unavoidably snuffing it delivers the classic line to his uptight, freaked-out sister: "They're coming to get you Bar-ber-ra!" from the original Romero cult classic movie.

References:
IMDB, Night Of The Living Dead (1990)
IMDB,Tom Savini

Slash-Mess Day 7: Dawn Of The Dead (1978)

2011-12-18T00:01:00.040-05:00

The dead get up and KILL. The people they kill get up and KILL. Romero's original 1978 version Dawn Of The Dead.

George Romero's Dawn Of The Dead (1978) is the first sequel to his late 1960's classic and definitive survival horror movie, The Night Of The Living Dead (1968). Ten years later, the zombies have gained a much deeper hold on North America. Dawn Of The Dead finds a much smaller post-Apocalyptic country with survivor societies inside a disintegrated modern culture.

Individuals, soldiers and police personnel fare far better but are on the front lines of a crumbling society in America. The scenes opening looks like mid-70's Philadelphia or Chicago, decaying tenements raided by police.

However, too much of Romero's work is interpreted as directly political when they are simply character studies set in a crisis. Critics seem to read too much into these zombie films as "protest films" - protesting against anything from racism (Duane being shot in the original film) to anti-social behavior (what is more anti-social than munching on your neighbor's brains?) when they are dark social commentaries much closer to reality than fiction - replace the zombies with junkies or crack fiends and you could have any terrible night in New York or L.A.

This commentary does nothing to disguise the acting which is often very hammy. The real appeal is that these films are full of gore and disembowelment and often hard to find. The Sleaze-A-Saurus watches these zombie themed films because they are "effects movies" with a dark sense of humor and not "message films" as in The Piano, Woodstock, Schindler's List or Forrest Gump...

References:
IMDB Dawn Of The Dead (1978)
IMDB, Night Of The Living Dead (1968)

Slash-Mess Day 8: Vampyres (1975)

2011-12-17T00:01:00.035-05:00

Infamous horror movie that emphasizes the sexual and feminine nature of the vampire.

Anulka Dziubinska and Yutte Stensgaard are a seductive lesbian vampire couple who sulkily waylay and abduct various passer-byes, both male and female, to hold them captive at their rural manor in the English countryside. The lovely ladies to so in order to feed on them to satisfy their insatiable thirst for hu-mon blood.

"But I doan wanna snack on Hans!". Picky vampires really prefer the big taste of Rolf.

Filmed in England by Spanish director Jose Ramon Larraz infamous for his combinatioon of the erotic and the horrifying in his films - Larraz adds a joyous celebration of steamy eroticism and vampirism. If he had failed (he doesn't), we would have been saddled with a sexless non-classic that wastes the carnal talents of the smoldering Yutte Stensgaard as the stuffy and stoic turns of some of the worst Hammer Brother films.

Larraz also directed The National Mummy (1981) featuring mummies, naked hu-mon females and very gross humor and the paper-thinly plotted erotica film, Madame Olga's Pupil's (1981).

References:
IMDB, Vampyres
Cinezilla, Vampyres
Drive-In, Vampyres

Slash-Mess Day 9: White Zombie (1932)

2011-12-16T00:01:00.015-05:00

A forgotten horror classic from the original Universal cycle of Dracula, The Wolf Man and Frankenstein.

For the 9th Day of Slash-Mess your intergalactic Overlord imposes upon you: cinematic history with actor Bela Lugosi. Lugosi was a Romanian legendary actor and was in the definitive black-and-white horror movies made in the "Universal Cycle" along with Dracula (1931), Son of Frankenstein (1937) and The Wolf Man (1941).

In White Zombie, Bela stars as the diabolical Murder Legendre one of few white men to be initiated into the diabolical voodoo religion. Legendre belongs to a nameless death cult that uses mindless zombie servants created from the Cuban or Dominican natives on an island off the coast of Florida. Unbekwnowst to the hapless group of Americans that visit the island, these zombies were once human as themselves but now toil ceaselessly for their evil master.

Creating zombies ain't that hard, pathetic hum-mon. Throw cash directly at their faces until their eyes glaze over. Duh!

Deep in the secluded island countryside a frantic American man turns to Legrande to act as a witch doctor to win a wigged out woman. Legrande agrees and lures the flighty lady that he loves away from her fiance and turns her into a zombie slave.

In fact, a good deal of the population are wandering dead-eyed zombies. Many work in the island's dense sugar fields and refineries as part of a plantation population. Some of the more decrepit zombies fall into the archaic cane crushers becoming an active ingredient in the fields major export - Legendre's Zombified Sugar.

References:
IMDB, Bela Lugosi
IMDB, White Zombie
Sleaze Blender, Bela Lugosi

Slash-Mess Day 10: Critters (1986)

2011-12-15T00:01:00.021-05:00

Crites, Mother Nature's humble clown or intergalactic space menace? You make the call.

The original Critters, shot in rural Kansas for $2 million dollars in 1985 was written and directed by Mr. Stephen Herek, in his directorial debut. The movie was based on the screenplay by writer Domonic Muir to cash in on Spielberg's Gremlins from 1984.

Critters features my fellow intergalactic beings, although far inferior to the highly evolved Sleaze-A-Saurus, as the buggers hunt and consume the fleshy, unsuspecting inhabitants of a small midwestern town in Northern America. Luckless beings that the poor, hawngry Crites are - they quickly find themselves pursued by their former captors, two merciless space exterminators with identity issues.

Critters is a unique crossroads of talent. Child actor, and mostly whiny annoying kid at the time, Scott Grimes was 15 years old during the shoot. Grimes was still almost 20 years away from his major role in HBO and Stephen Spielberg's Band Of Brothers as TSgt. Malarkey and his current re-occurring role in Seth Macfarlene's American Dad as the frantically uncool "Steve". His character's mother in Critters was played by Dee Wallace who has been in 188 films and television shows to date including Alligator II: The Mutation (1991), Cujo (1983) and as the Mom in Spielberg's E.T. The sister character in the film, Nadine Van der Velde went on to feature in Munchies (1987) (another Gremlins clone) and won two Emmys for her role as a Voice Actor in Rollie Pollie Olie in 1998.

There were a total of 4 Critters movies that, in the tradition of sequels everywhere, became more and more unwatchable as they were comically misfired at the American movie-going public.

References:
IMDB, Critters (1986)
IMDB, Stephen Herek
Wikipedia, Critters (film series)

Slash-Mess Day 11: Dr. Black, Mr. Hyde (1976)

2011-12-14T00:01:00.004-05:00

On the 11th Day of Slash-Mess my true love gave to me: one terrible blaxploitation movie.

Dr. Black, Mr. Hyde stars veteran actor Bernie Casey. Casey has a long history in both A and B films having appeared in: Black Gun (1972) w/ "Big" Jim Brown, The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) w/David Bowie, Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles, Never Say Never Again (1983), Amazon Women on the Moon (1987), Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989) and the first three Revenge of the Nerds movies.

In the middle of all these movies came the little known blaxploitation film: Dr. Black, Mr. Hyde (1976) tag-lined: Super-strong, supernatural and Super BAD this movie oozes the cliches that were once the mainstay of all-black features up until this exact period - the mid-70's.

Dr. Henry Pride is a scientist developing a secret formula to regenerate dying liver cells. To his shock, the experimental formula has the unfortunate side-effect of turning him into an Albino Vampire with a thang for killing prostitutes by body-slamming them. And why wouldn't it really?

Today, Mr. Bernie Casey is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees at the internationally recognized Savannah College of Art and Design (S.C.A.D.) in Georgia where he mentors new artists and filmmakers.

References:
IMDB, Bernie Casey
Wikipedia, Dr. Black And Mr. Hyde

Slash-Mess Day 12: Dr. Jekyll And Sister Hyde (1971)

2011-12-13T00:01:00.001-05:00

On the 12th Day of Slash-Mess my true love gave to me - one mixed up movie.

Merry Slash-Mess! On this, the 12th Day of Slash-Mess, the Sleaze-A-Saurus presents: Dr. Jekyll And Sister Hyde (1971).

Oh, unwary manlings! Your so-called "Sexual Revolution" pathetically epitomized your lack of clear identity within your own confused culture. The Sleaze-A-Saurus, being it's own self-contained civilization, scoffs at your befuddled attempts to re-arrange the role of your bifurcated species loins. This self-inflicted confusion has never been more apparent then in Roy Ward Baker's Dr. Jekyll And Sister Hyde (1971).

Dr. Jekyll And Sister Hyde's director was Ray Ward Baker. Baker was something of a legend in his own right which explains his knack for turning B-movie material into a thought-provoking film. Early in his career, Baker worked as an Assistant Director for Alfred Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes (1938) before WWII turned vast areas of urban England into war torn rubble.

Baker signed up for the British Army Kinematograph Unit, a news reel production unit - the American Signal Corp being the American counterpart and documented battles against the Nazi's as well as the bombing campaigns in his home country. The experience undoubtedly shaped his future view of humanity as he went onto direct dozens of horror and suspense movies and television shows.

Selected Filmography:
The October Man (1947)
The Weaker Sex (1948)
Paper Orchid (1949)
Morning Departure (1950)
Don't Bother to Knock (1952)
Inferno (1953)
Jacqueline (1956)
Tiger in the Smoke (1956)
The Singer Not the Song (1961)
Quatermass and the Pit (1967)
The Anniversary (1968)
Scars of Dracula (1970)
The Vampire Lovers (1970)
Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde (1971)
Asylum (1972)
The Vault of Horror (1973)

Roy Baker Ward published his memoirs Director's Cut: A Memoir of 60 Years in Filmat the age of 86 in 2002. In October of 2010, Ward reached the end of his remarkable life in London passing away of natural causes.

References:
IMDB, Dr. Jekyll And Sister Hyde (1971)
Wikipedia, Dr. Jekyll And Sister Hyde
Wikipedia, Roy Ward Baker
Imperial War Museum, Roy Ward Baker

The 12 Days Of Slash-Mess

2011-12-01T03:00:00.068-05:00

Christmas at the Sleaze-A-Saurus home is a truly heartfelt event.

Yes small, insignificant manling - this blog is going 18+ this month. Reset your subscription accordingly if you dare. Beginning the 13TH DECEMBER this blog will officially contain "mature" not porngraphic content. Material will be featured that is not for kids or those under the age that the MPAA rating "R" admits to a regular type movie theater.

To celebrate the upgrade to boobs, gratuitous female nudity and adult themes among consenting heterosexual adults - this horror blog announces a start to the Slash-Mess season - a horror movie fan Christmas with 12 Days of B-movies beginning December 13th 2011.

Gather together masses of pathetic hu-mons! Gather together to celebrate the warmest of Slash-Mess sentiments in the traditional Slash-Mess custom by decking the halls with dangling intestines and viewing 12 classic B-Movies! Scary Slash-Mess to all!

Models: Vanessa Lake

2011-11-24T00:01:00.018-05:00

A sultry, sexy siren with a brain? Wake me up, Mongo - I must be dreaming again!

Happy Fangsgiving, manlings and fe-manlings! This is the special time of the year when The Sleaze-A-Saurus thanks the dark reaches of the Universe that so graciously spawned it into hideous life by sinking it's rows of wet fangs deep into unwary hu-mons. But wait! What is this amazing beauty that identifies itself as "Vanessa Lake"?

She is, in fact, the cover girl from Bizarre Magazine March 2011 and certainly seems poised to find a wide, wide audience among the Internet viewing audience at large. Her 5' 6" wispy frame, perfect skin, perky 36" rack, colorful arm tattoos and lush, long red hair make Vanessa a stand-out model among the thousands of hopefuls - who are, let's face it - pretty unremarkable.

One look at Vanessa Lake makes all the sloppy hardcore porn on the Internet seem boring, inauspicious and frankly - tasteless even for an interstellar dino-monster. So saying, yer Ol' Pal The Sleaze-A-Saurus chooses not to devour this fe-manling. Instead, The Sleaze-A-Saurus prefers for this cherubic siren to have a long and successful career in modeling and what I am told is called "fashion".

Be free, Vanessa Lake, for you have only narrowly escaped the fleshy drool-encrusted maw of The Sleaze-A-Saurus, itself. For now... Happy Fangsgiving!

References:
I Spy Vanessa Lake, Official Site
Deviant Art, Vanessa Lake

Flicks: Zone 261 (2012)

2011-11-23T00:01:00.004-05:00

In Sweden, zombies are not only better organized but better looking too. Z.I.L.F. out, pathetic hu-mons!

Z.I.L.F., an acronym suggestive of obscure pseudo-necrophilic practices or perhaps something much less interesting? For the purposes of Fredrik Hiller's (3d animated version of Beowolf and Psalm 21) Zone 261 - due out in American theaters in 2012 - the term serves next to no purpose.

In Zone 261, the military name a zombie infected town in southern Sweden, tensions between locals and immigrants grow. The isolated town is cordoned off by the Swedish army but the survivors are trapped inside the military blockade and must survive both immigrants and locals alike. The two sides unwillingly band together to fight against the murderous, infected zombie horde.

References:
Krejaren, Drama Produktion
Zone 261, Trailer
IMDB, Zon 261 (2012)
Shock 'Til You Drop, 5 Minute Preview of Sweden's Zone 261

Flicks: Tucker & Dale Versus Evil (2010)

2011-11-22T18:06:00.004-05:00

Accident-prone teenie-boppers encounter some rather misunderstood miscreants. Video courtesy of Magnet Releasing.

Tucker and Dale (Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine) are two best friends on vacation at their dilapidated mountain house. The duo are mistaken for murderous backwoods hillbillies by a group of obnoxious, preppy college kids. When one of the students gets separated from her friends, the boys try to lend a hand, but as the misunderstanding grows, so does the body count.

The movie's director Eli Craig (Carrie 2) takes the archetypes set-up by survival horror movies like Wrong Turn, Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Hills Have Eyes to deliver a mortified cast of hapless yuppoids who inadvertently frag themselves for 90 minutes while Tucker and Dale look on horrified. Think Shaun of the Dead meets Deliverance as the survival horror genre is turned comically on it's skull.

Tyler Labine^[0] stars as Dale, a dead-on Robert Kirkland (Walking Dead creator) look-a-like. In fact, The Walking Dead's original illustrator, Tony Moore^[1], has created movie posters and promotional art for this horror spoof that is every bit as good as the work he did on the first 6 issues of the hit comic series from Image.

Notes:
[0] = Tyler Labine's career is taking off after starring in the failed Fox sitcom Sons Of Tuscon in 2010 he appeared in the new Rise of the Planet of the Apes and is slated for three 2012 feature films.
[1] = Tony Moore and Robert Kirkland actually met as middle school kids in 7th grade history class.

References:
IMDB, Tucker and Dale vs Evil (2010)
IMDB, Tyler Labine
Magnet Releasing, Tucker & Dale VS Evil (Official Site)
Tony Moore.com, Tucker & Dale Versus Evil
Walking Dead Wiki, Tony Moore

Directors: Roger Corman

2011-11-14T17:47:00.001-05:00

Sundance Film Festival 2011 Corman bio hits the indie movie theater circuit.

Documentary film CORMAN'S WORLD: EXPLOITS OF A HOLLYWOOD REBEL prolific writer-director producer, and seminal influencing force in modern movie making over the last 60 years.

Featuring interviews with Hollywood icons and cinematic luminaries, some who launched their careers within Corman's unforgettable world of film-making, including Paul W.S. Anderson, Peter Bogdanovich, Robert De Niro, Peter Fonda, Pam Grier, Ron Howard, Eli Roth, Martin Scorsese, William Shatner and Jack Nicholson, along with many others, this documentary chronicles Corman.

References:
IMDB, Trailer Corman's World (2011)
IMDB, Corman's World Movie Info

Flicks: War Of The Collosal Beast (1958)

2011-10-29T06:26:00.003-04:00

I'm a BIG monster and I gotta BIG appetite - for destruction!

Another American International Pictures Atomic Era picture featured the giant man-monster from 1957 movie The Amazing Colossal Man. The 60 foot tall zombie, the former Lt. Col. Glenn Manning, sacks the Old Mexico countryside for truckloads of tortillas until he is captured by the U.S. Army before breaking loose and attacking Hollywood and L.A.

Does the Collosal Beast have a thang against the 50's era film production industry or what? The movie is 99% black-and-white before inexplicably going to color in the final minute as the lumbering retard electrocutes himself in some power lines. A classic!

References:
Wikipedia, War Of The Colossal Beast
IMDB, War Of The Colossal Beast (1958)
Google Video, MST3K 319 Mr. B. Natural

Actresses: Bettie Page

2011-10-14T00:01:00.002-04:00

Bettie blossomed under the tutelage of former pin-up model and current photographer Bunny Yeager.

Bettie Page, born 1923 in Nashville and died on December 11^th of 2008 in LA just three days after I sat down to write this article on her.

To me, and to many people, Bettie was a unique icon of raw sexuality. She became a definitive staple of underground culture for many genres including rock-a-billy, acting and modeling. Her voluptuous figure and baby doll mug created an image of a brunette bombshell.

In her photos she appears free of the traditional inhibitions/hang-ups that dominate popular culture and were even more repressive in post-WWII America. Bettie was internationally loved for her sex appeal, sweetness as well as her striking beauty.

A great deal, some fictional and some factual, has been written about her. Accounts describe her as a very physically gifted model and a talented seamstress, who made or altered her own wardrobe, who was originally raised in abject poverty while looking after her younger siblings.

During her career, she worked in San Francisco, New York and Florida and performed in plays and movies including Varietease (1954) co-starring the curvaceous Tempest Storm and of course, Strip-O-Rama (1955).

Bettie worked extensively in the 1950's with Irving Klaw in NY photo clubs and was featured in Playboy in January of 1955. In 1957, she was called to testify before Congress in an obscenity hearing that destroyed her career. Afterward, Bettie Page married and then re-married (including Billy Neal twice), joined the Church and did missionary work in Haiti - all in a guarded secrecy and out of the public eye. Rumors flew that Bettie was kidnapped or dead as the decades w/out any public appearances dragged on.

Fifty years after her career as a model ended in 2008 85-year-old Bettie Page died at an L.A. hospital where she was admitted as a patient for for heart trouble which she succumbed to, in her sleep, on December 11^th 2008.

Bettie Page | Bettie on Blogspot | Bettie on Vampress| Pop Subculture

References::
Wikipedia, Bettie Page
Biography.com, Bettie Page
Bettie Page: Life of the Pin-Up Legend Karen Essex and James Swanson, General Publishing Group Los Angeles 1996

Flicks: Roid Rage (2011)

2011-10-10T00:01:00.002-04:00

The ol' Chernobyl prostate exam takes on a life of it's own in Roid Rage!

In the spirit of Peter Jackson's early horror work (Dead Alive and the classic Brain Dead for which he is NOT credited at IMDB) and Lloyd Kaufman's unique combination of horror and comedy Roid Rage (2011) director Ryan Lightbourn presents the ol' Chernobyl prostate exam taking on a life of it's own.

The site for Roid Rage states the film is the story of "a simple man who lived a simple life, until a genetic mutation sent his world spiraling out of control. Now, being hunted by the men responsible for his deformity Sammy must fight back with his unique abilities in order to survive. Those unique abilities include the giant killer hemorrhoid growing out of his ass."

This trailer will be distributed along with Charles Band’s Full Moon Pictures latest film “Killer Eye: Halloween Haunt” which goes on sale October 18th at Full Moon Direct.com and in selected DVD retail stores.

References:
Roid Rage Movie, Ragin' On The Stagin'
Ryan Lightbourn, Director and D.P.
Wikipedia, Braindead (film)

Flicks: The Horde (2011)

2011-09-25T00:01:00.001-04:00

Another typical cops, robbers and .... zombie movie? WHA-A-A ?!?

IFC distributes this British tale of a robbery gone bad due to a sudden uptick in the population of peckish zomboids. No, no not the "Pip-Pip" and Cheery-o!" variety of toothy, good-natured English gent but the groaning, decomposing sack of protoplasm who are indeed a bit peckish for human brains.

Flashy Snatch-Guy Ritchie styled action sequences and editing dominate the flick, which isn't exactly a bad thing, and creative hand-to-hand combat and dark humor sequences make The Horde an interesting ride through the ever-expanding catalog of zombie films.

References:
IMDB, The Horde (2011)
The Independent Film Channel, The Horde

Flicks: Killer Fish (1979)

2011-09-11T00:01:00.005-04:00

The classic "heist-gone-wrong-due-to-piranhas" genre resurfaces in Italy, 1979.

Steve "The 6 Million Dollar Man" Rogers. Karen Black. Margaux Hemingway. Flesh-eating ichthyoids. Say no more pathetic manlings! Peter Benchley, author of the book the blockbuster of the same name was based upon, licensed this adaptation of his novel to a Italian production of Antonio Margheriti's Killer Fish.

The movie itself is largely forgettable but it's the career of the Italian director that is the real story here. Margheriti's stunning history as a B-Movie director rivals Roger Corman's own reputation as "King of the B's" from 1960 to 1997.

Often credited as Anthony Dawson, a play on words from the American translation, Margheriti started out in B's with the colossally awful Space Men (1960), Horror Castle (1963), then things began improving with Castle Of Blood (1964) starring Barbara Steele. After Castle Of Blood came Mondo Inferno (1964) and War Of The Planets (1966) culminating with Margheriti's most successful film Cannibal Apocalypse (1980) starring John Saxon (Enter The Dragon, Nightmare On Elm Street). During his nearly 40 year career in films, Margheriti worked with Lee Van Cleef, John Saxon, Claude Rains, Klaus Kinski, Barbara Steele, Donald Pleasence, Yul Brynner, Fred Williamson and Christopher Lee.

Mr. Margheriti passed away in 2002 with 57 internationally released films to his credit. His last film, Genghis Khan: The Story of a Lifetime, was posthumously released in 2010.

References:
Antonio Margheriti, King Of Italian Film
IMDB, Killer Fish (1979)
IMDB, Lee Majors
Cult Movie Forums, Killer Fish

Flicks: Attack Of The Giant Crabs (2010)

2011-08-25T00:01:00.003-04:00

In France, they have crabs. Big ones.

The French editor of the ferocious Caged (2010), Grégoire Sivan, has an excellent grasp of exploitation cinema. He's like a horror movie chef. He combines the most essential ingredients: low-brow humor, gore, an inhuman monster and oh, yes: beautiful babies. Sivan cooks these key ingredients into a perfect and unique meal of crab cakes drenched in blood red Thai Sriracha sauce.

As a director and editor of independent short films (12 and counting) Grégoire displays his own unique sense of humor in strange takes of classic "atomic" monsters set in urban fairy tales.

References:
IMDB, Attack Of The Giant Crabs
Undead Brain, King Krab, ATTACK!

Flicks: Grave Encounters (2011)

2011-08-19T00:01:00.018-04:00

Do you wanna see something really scary? Really? Press play. Once.

Horror movies posing as documentaries are nothing new in Hollywood. For the past two decades film makers have been eager to capitalize on utilizing this genre within a genre as horror masquerading as "found footage" (see REC, Quarantine, Blair Witch Project)^[0]. This is an accessible method of creating a sense of credibility then immediately bypassing the audience's ever-present skepticism.

This Vicious Brothers movie (funded by Tribeca Film) features Lance Preston (Sean Rogerson) and the crew of "Grave Encounters", a Ghost Hunters type of reality television show, who plan to shoot an episode inside the spooky ol' abandoned Collingwood Psychiatric Hospital.

"American horror films have become increasingly safe and predictable.... the genre isn't taken seriously anymore. Our intention was to take things back to a time when horror films didn't play by the rules."

- The Vicious Brothers.

Collingwood is reputedly a place where unexplained phenomena has been reported for years since it's closing. In the name of Must-See-TV the crew locks themselves inside the building for a night to begin a paranormal investigation by capturing everything on camera.

The production crew quickly realizes that the building is more than just haunted - it's alive - and it has no intention of ever letting them leave.

Notes:[0] = Film makers do this in order to get around traditional conventions that horror movies (Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street) get deeply mired in. As an unintended consequence of obeying genre dogma - so do horror movie audiences.

References:
IMDB, Grave Encounters (2011)
Vicious Brothers, Hard Line
Horror Movie Blog, Grave Robbers Inc.

Flicks: Frankenfish (2004)

2011-08-10T00:01:00.024-04:00

Yappy yuppies vs. giant mutant ichthyoids? The winner: audiences everywhere.

It's not funny because it's true. It's scary because it's true. Based on the snakehead fish incident in a Crofton, Maryland pond, Frankenfish is a made for TV movie from the Sci-Fi channel. This film is one of two movies based on this real life incident, the other being the more successful Snakehead Terror.

Directed and co-written by Mark Dippé (former Industrial Light & Magic animator and director of Spawn (1997)) Frankenfish is centered deep in the Louisiana bayou where the eating is good. The only problem is: Man is on the menu. That is, if yuppies are in same biological category as humans. And if years of watching bad b-movies has taught America anything it's that yuppies have got it comin'. In spades.

Mark Dieppe's Frankenfish in an early state of FX evolution. FX by The Animation Picture Company (TAPC).

Frankenfish sports eye-popping practicals and CG effects for the main monster(s) plus flock animations of hungry lil' baby Frankenfish as they fill their precious lil' bellies with the two things that Louisiana does have in a great abundance: yuppies and swamp billies!

Mark Dieppe's movie features work from his own FX company none other than The Animation Picture Company (TAPC) whose credits include FX for S. Darko and Dead Birds.

References:
IMDB, Frankenfish (2004)
Wikipedia, Frankenfish

Flicks: Piranhas! Part I and II

2011-08-09T00:01:00.056-04:00

What's part bat, part fish and all trouble? None other than the oft-misunderstood Piranhners!

The original Piranha, produced by Roger Corman's New World Pictures in 1978, was a classic 70's horror movie mix of dark humor, sexy brunettes and gore. Featuring the brilliant late Mr. Kevin McCarthy (whose 204 film appearances include Invasion Of The Body Snatchers and Twilight Zone The Movie), Dick Miller (Bucket Of Blood) and the adorable Barbera Steele.

With Piranha 2: The Spawning in 1981, Mr. James Cameron (Avatar, Titanic) made his inauspicious and official directorial debut as the American director for the Italian production of Pirahna II. Although Cameron has continuously fought to have his name removed from this film due to his spectacular success as a film maker beginning with The Terminator, all his efforts have failed.

Cameron is to be forgiven for this effort. This is not because of his shame of making a bad movie as a young director but due to the fact that in 1981 the film's Italian producer Ovidio Assoniti ended up firing Cameron at the end of the production and taking full directorial credit. The ol' Hollywood handshake - in Italian...

Oh, Honey-pie! Sweetie-face! You did remember to pack the Pirahners!

Pirahna Two: The Spawning features veteran actor Lance Henriksen, friend to Cameron and a re-occurring supporting actor in many of Cameron's blockbusters such as Terminator and Aliens. Hendriksen co-stars as Police Chief Steve Kimbrough in a b-movie with unusually well-crafted SFX (flyin' and walkin' pee-rahna!) that is primarily nudity driven, in the best of Italian farce that features with some lighter moments mixed in with a generous portion of gore.

It should be noted that Lance Hendriksen has appeared in 177 films and games and counting. He will soon be appearing in Tron: Uprising an animated TV series set to debut in 2012 from Disney.

References:
IMDB, Piranha (1978)
IMDB, Piranha 2 (1981)
Wikipedia, Piranha II
Bleak Cinema, Pirahners Part Due
Isle Of The Deserted Pop Stars, Carole Davis
Hollwood Cargo.com, Cameron Drawings

Flicks: Cannibal Women (1989)

2011-08-08T00:01:00.072-04:00

The Heart of Darkness in bikinis? I only have one thing to say ... GREENLIGHT!

Perennial softcore actress Shannon Tweed known for her work in the dicey "erotic thriller" genre and tv comedian Bill Maher star in this Romancing The Stone parody with some pretty pointy teeth. Bill Maher, today, is a well known political and social satirist with his hit show Real Time on HBO. Maher's shows, dating back to Politically Incorrect on ABC, have earned 26 Emmy Award nominations and zero wins^[0].

Adrienne Barbeau (who was still Mrs. John Carpenter in '89) makes a few cameo appearances as "Dr. Kurtz" as Maher and Tweed bumble their way through fierce tribes of Pirahna Women and deep into the Avacado Jungle of Death ... aka, the avocado groves at University of California at Riverside (UCR)!

Notes:
[0] = According to the L.A. Times Politically Incorrect and Real Time w/Bill Maher have received 26 total Emmy Nominations, including best Writing and Host, yet neither have won, in any category, as of 2011. Maher is competing with John Stewart but losing to Jay Leno.

References:
IMDB, Cannibal Women In The Avacado Jungle Of Death (1989)
HBO, Real Time w/Bill Maher
HBO, Real Time w/Bill Maher Blog
L.A. Times, The Gold Derby

Flicks: The Fog (1980)

2011-08-03T00:01:00.009-04:00

In John Carpenter's Fog, what you can't see won't hurt ya - it'll murderize ya.

On February 1st 1980, actress Adrienne Barbeau (Swamp Thing, Escape From New York) and director John Carpenter were newly weds when The Fog (1980) rolled in American theaters. Barbeau's 70's porn-sheik good looks and big brown eyes brought the Van Morrison outta red-blooded men across the country while Carpenter's sparse, gruesome directorial talents earned the The Fog itself a cool $21 million dollars^[0].

These earnings came at a Recession choked point in American culture when the over-marketed Saturn 3, the truly wretched Kirk Douglas/Harvey Keitel sci-fi vehicle released the same month, earned $10 million ^[0] the same amount as it's production budget and barely breaking even.

It is an act of courage to make a film. It is very hard and very destructive.

- John Carpenter.

Made for a Hollywood shoe-string, even in 1980, at $1 million bucks, The Fog was the suspenseful tale of a small New England town's horrible secret. A secret that stalked the city cloaked in the dense eastern seaboard fog. Carpenter's painstakingly detailed approach to creating an atmosphere of paranoid immediacy works in The Fog - although admittedly not as well as it does for The Thing, In The Mouth Of Madness and of course the original Halloween. Hal Holbrook (Creep Show) and the deliciously adorable Jamie Lee Curtis (True Lies) co-star in a what has often been called a horror classic.

In 2005, The Fog was re-made as a disastrous teen horror movie by Rupert Wainright on an $18 million dollar budget and earning $46 million. Wainright, commercially successful with the nearly universally hated re-make, is currently attempting to redeem himself with Waco dealing with infamous siege in 1993. According to IMDB Waco stars Giovanni Ribisi as David Koresh, with Adrien Brody and Kurt Russell, with a TBA release date in 2011.

Notes:
[0] = These 1980 box office numbers courtesy of Wikipedia.

References:
Wikipedia, The Fog (1980)
Wikipedia, Adrienne Barbeau
IMDB, John Carpenter
Sleaze Blender, Directors: John Carpenter
Den Of Din, Interview With John Carpenter

Flicks: Bong Of The Dead (2009)

2011-08-02T00:01:00.051-04:00

Genre confusion reigns supreme as Dazed and Confused meets The Evil Dead.

Genre confusion reigns supreme in red showers of zomboid blood as Weedsploitation (Super High Me, Dazed And Confused, Cheech and Chong, Half-Baked) meets survival horror (Resident Evil, Night Of The Living Dead) in Bong Of The Dead (2009). Thomas Newman's British Columbia based Mind In Motion Inc.'s terrific short concerns two post-Apocalyptic stoners and their desperate search for the most excellent weed fertilizer known to man: rotting zombie brains. What else, eh?

Along the way the two hapless and frantically jonesin' hipsters meet up with the spunky and adorable Simone Bailey (Battle Star Gallactica and Stargate SG-1) and set out to the Danger Zone to harvest a bongload of brains.

This inventive cliche exploiting movie is being actively marketed and distributed in 2011 w/a grass roots campaign that allows individual theaters, galleries and night clubs to book the film!

References:
IMDB, Bong Of The Dead (2009)
Mind In Motion Inc., Official Site
Bong Of The Dead, Official Site

Flicks: Scream, Blacula, Scream! (1973)

2011-08-01T00:01:00.009-04:00

Mamuwalde returns to L.A. to feast upon the blood of even more b-movie actresses.

William Marshall reprises the role of the undead African prince Mamuwalde - this time with the bodacious Pam Grier (93 movies to her credits including Coffy (1972), Jackie Brown (1997)) as voodoo priestess Lisa directly in his vampiric sights.

This sequel to the original Blacula, released by infamous American International Pictures (AIP), features much higher production standards and choreographed fight scenes that adds an unexpected ferocity to Marshal's characterization of the doomed prince.

References:
IMDB, Scream, Blacula, Scream! (1973)
Wikipedia, Scream Blacula Scream
Wikipedia, Blacula
Realm Of Horror, Scream Blacula Scream

Coming This August ...

2011-07-23T12:01:00.010-04:00

Beware scaless manling, for the Sleaze-A-Saurus has unearthed even more radioactive trash cinema for your internet viewing pleasure! Coming in August, William "The King Of Cartoons" Marshall in the sequel to Blacula ... the bone-chilling Scream, Blacula, Scream! (1973). Plus, Canadian director Thomas Newman proves that genre confusion is what genre confusion does in Bong Of The Dead (2009).

Subscribe now or foolishly risk missing the worst moments ever from over seven decades of exploitation, horror and slasher cinema!

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Flicks: Death Race 2000 (1975)

2011-07-07T00:01:00.012-04:00

In the futuristic of year of 2000 road rage is America's fastest flowing blood sport.

The original Death Race 2000 (1975) remains an awesome Roger Corman fantasy-violence epic. Death Race stars Sylvester Stallone, before Rocky and Rambo, as Machine Gun Joe while Kung Fu and Kill Bill's David Carradine stars as the eccentric cyborg Frankenstein - the movie also co-stars Mary Woronov whose credits include Silent Night, Bloody Night (1972), Chopping Mall (1986) and Prison-A-Go-Go! (2003).

Tons of unnecessary neo-Apocalyptic heavy shit takes place in an American dictatorship where all out Vehicular Manslaughter is the country's most revered sport. In fact, the Death Race takes place in the city streets of America, where racers battle for points by making Kills. These Kills are dutifully recorded in the best of CBS's Wide World of Sports telegraphics tradition with a scoreboard that contains outlines of deceased nurses, the elderly and of course fellow Death Race drivers.

This script comes from long-time exploitation writer Charles Griffith, who started working with Corman on the wretched Monster From The Sea Floor (1954). Griffith's screen play takes a campy approach into state-sanctioned Vehicular Manslaughter as a society wide spectator sport.

References:
IMDB, Death Race 2000 (1975)
Wikipedia, Death Race 2000
IMDB, Writer Charles Griffith

Flicks: Sister Street Fighter (1974)

2011-07-04T00:01:00.005-04:00

Sister Street Fighter teams up with Sonny Chiba to face Reiko Ike and Jun Jo.

Sonny Chiba, reprising his role as Terry "#1 Man" Tsurugi appears for the second half this great chop sockey/crime-action movie. Production values are slightly better with more characters and Toei studio actors appearing including a hokey Hong Kong heroin boss and Japanese actress and model Reiko Ike. It should be noted that Reiko Ike was a cult persona herself. Reiko had also co-starred in Street Fighter's Last Revenge (1974) with Chiba as well as two very successful "pinky" (Japsploitation) movies: The Sex And Fury (1973) and Female Yakuza Tale (1971).

In Sister Street Fighter, Jun Jo, minus the trach box from Return of Sreet Fighter appears as another different-but-still-evil karate master-villain in another blockbuster kung fu epic. This film was followed by The Street Fighter's Last Revenge (1974), which featured much higher production values as the genre earned more money for Toei and international distributors.

References:
IMDB, Sister Street Fighter (1974)
IMDB, Reiko Ike
IMDB, Sex And The Fury (1973)
IMDB, Streetfighter's Last Revenge (1974)

Sites: Retro Slashers

2011-07-03T00:01:00.001-04:00

Every infamous Hollywood villain BUT the Sleaze-A-Saurus? The sheer nerve of these arrogant manlings!

A really, rea-a-lly good site for all things Krueger, Kruug, Leatherface, Vorhees and many more obscure-o cinematic slashers can be found at Retro Slashers. A team of writers and designers have put together an exhaustive database of horror, giallo, zombie, andmaniac films (w/collectibles!) as a top shelf resource for all fans of gore and splatter movies.


In Jason vs. Leatherface - everyone is the winner. Click the image above for the large version or below for the book at Amazon.

Where else can a poor ol' gorehound find Simon Bisley's elusive Jason vs Leatherface comic that went of print in 1995? The three-parter is there, alright.

References:
Comic Vine, Jason Vs. Leatherface
Dork Sights.com, Retro-Activity
Fright At First Sight, Child's Play 2 Comics

Jason vs. Leatherface is available at:

Flicks: Chinese Hercules (1973)

2011-07-02T00:01:00.001-04:00

First, came Black Samson. Now: Chinese Hercules... God bless you, Mr. B-movie script writer.

“Kill ‘em. Dump ‘em.” So sez perennial Kung-Fu baddie Bolo Heung in Chinese Hercules (1973) - a meditation on the ageless value of chop sockey in on-going labor disputes that gave future Transporter (2002) and DOA: Dead Or Alive (2006) director Corey Yuen Kwai his start as a Fight Co-Ordinator.

Bolo "The Beast From The East" Yeung, co-villain of Chinese Hercules, was long known as the Arnold Schwarzenegger of China. Over his long film career Bolo repeatedly portrayed himself as a kind of an evil doppelganger to the Governator whose punchlines usually erupted in bloody clouds instead of dim-witted one liners.

In fact, Bolo became a marital arts student at 10, trained w/good friend Bruce Lee and was a body-building legend in Hong Kong in the late 1970's and early 1980's. He appeared in Enter the Dragon (1973), Bloodsport (1988) and Double Impact (1991) and has a part in The Expendables II set for a 2012 release...

Today, Bolo, now a full-fledged imperialist citizen, lives and works as a fight trainer in his own gyms in LA.

References:
Wikipedia, Bolo Yeung
IMDB, Chinese Hercules
IMDB, Bolo Heung Bio
Hong Kong Cinemagic, Chinese Hercules (1973)
Kung Fu Cinema, Chinese Hercules (1973)
Gluetube, Chinese Hercules

Directors: Joe Sarno

2011-06-30T00:01:00.014-04:00

So where did sexploitation come from? Where did it go? To answer that question you must examine the career of proto-porno film director turned hardcore porn film director Joe Sarno.

Joe Sarno, born in 1921 in Brooklyn, had a very successful career in sexploitation a genre that he widely contributed to before becoming a mainstream porn director in the 1980's.

His films examined very real questions about hypocrisy and desire among men and women. Sarno's seemingly bizarre takes on romance concern the place of sex in cultural identity by voicing the questions that were being asked by 1960's American counter-culture to their parents - parents who came from a generation that fought World War Two and whose own parents had survived a ravenous Depression.

This generation gap combined with wide spread political corruption, political upheaval, and an unjust war raging in southeast Asia created a need for a dialogue. What better place than the movie theater?

Sarno, a Navy photographer on South Pacific bombing runs during WWII, became a sexploitation director with his first official feature Sin In The Suburbs (1964). His movies catered to the wilder side of square audiences in the "softcore" market. Sarno's early films confronted sexual frigidity and traditionally accepted hypocrisies about love, women and power by shining a high-powered light into an exaggerated version of mainstream American culture - right were it got it on at.

He did so with unusually well crafted films using stark lighting, long takes, and a purposeful focus on character development. This type of rigorous staging achieved a powerful effect with his actors.

"The big thing with films — a film is the result of a human relationship, and when you write it to begin with, it's got to be about a real human relationship ... that's the whole secret of the thing. Without that, you have nothing."

- From an interview with Joe Sarno in RE/Search #10: Incredibly Strange Films.

After spending many years in a tumultuous American culture as a sexploitation director Sarno moved on to the hardcore porn market simply because popular culture had accepted the place for softcore porn in theaters and collectively yawned.

The Love Merchant directed by Joe Sarno in 1966.

As a contemporary of Roger Corman said: "Tits are the cheapest special effect in the business..." and although tame by today's standards Sarno used sexuality with a brilliance that was often mishandled by many of his peers including Corman and Russ Meyer - and undoubtedly is continually mishandled today.

Selected Filmography:
Sin You Sinners (1964)
My Body Hungers (1964)
Red Roses of Passion (1966)
The Love Merchant (1966)
The Love Rebellion (1967)
The Indelicate Balance (1969)
The Young, Erotic Fanny Hill (1970)
Deep Throat 2 (1974) (Rated R!)
Confessions of a Young American Housewife (1974)
Inside Little Oral Annie (1984)
Coming on America (1989)
Screw the Right Thing (1990)

Before his death, at age 89 in 2010, Joe Sarno's work was the subject of many gallery and film fest retrospectives including the New York Underground Film Festival, the Torino Film Festival in Turin, Italy and the Cinémathèque française in Paris.

References:
IMDB, Joe Sarno
RE/Search #10: Incredibly Strange Films
Mondo Digital, Films of Joe Sarno
Jah Sonic, Joe Sarno
RE/Search #10:Incredibly Strange Films Edited by V. Vale, Andrea Juno, Jim Morton RE/Search Publications San Francisco October 1986
Facebook, Red Roses Of Passion

Actors: Vincent Price

2011-06-30T00:01:00.009-04:00

Vincent Price was born in 1911 in St. Louis to an affluent family with a history of spectacular success if only gained through abysmal failure. Vincent would apply the harsh lessons learned by his family his entire life in an industry that was known for instability, greed and long droughts.

The Price family business, The National Candy Company, was founded by Vincent's father and namesake Vincent Leonard Price in 1902. His grandfather, Dr. Vincent Clarence Price, invented a popular baking soda in Illinois that made him a millionaire in the 1880's. Dr. Price would lose this fortune in the Panic of 1893. The family's re-established fortune, earned by his father, would provide a young and determined Vincent with an education at Yale.

During his first month in school in Connecticut Wall Street crashed. Fortunes that took lifetimes to accumulate were lost in a few weeks. On October 29^th 1929 men, including some of Price's classmates, killed themselves because they could not bear the thought of being anything other than filthy rich. In his first autobiography I Like What I Know, written in 1958, he remembers:

"I've always believed that the Great Depression was the best thing to happen to all of us children of affluent parents. People were hurling themselves out of windows at an alarming rate and oddly enough some of the jumpers included some of the boys about to enter the big three of Ivy League colleges. I guess the idea of being poor was more than they could face. It seemed to me...ridiculous."

After graduation, Price pursued a career in England as a stage actor while America was in the grip of a severe economic depression in the early 1930's. When he returned to the US he found acting work in New York and enjoyed critical success in traveling shows like Victoria Regina in 1935 and played opposite Orson Wells in Mercury Theater's Heartbreak House in 1938. He managed to keep the bills paid by recording several radio ads and episodes of The Saint.

Hollywood producers, attracted to the money making potential of Price's ability and versatility, attempted to turn the handsome stage actor into a matinee idol without success. Vincent leapt at the chance to build a fortune of his own and signed a contract with MGM in 1937. Price's understanding was that he would play the ill fated Emperor Maximillian of Mexico in a movie entitled Juarez.

As it happened, Vincent Price's first film role was in Service De Luxe (1938) and the film was a real stinker. The film was shot in the traditional heavy-handed screwball comedy style of the era. The script was written by the writing duo of Gertrude Purcell and Leonard Spigelgass who would never write a screenplay for a successful movie during their entire careers. Not even Vincent, or his co-star the sullen but sexy Constance Bennett, could salvage any glimmer or spark in the two-dimensional characters they traded lines with in the picture.

Price instead excelled at dark, brooding character portrayals and demonstrated a knack in campy roles. His long association with horror films began with The Invisible Man Returns (1940). However, many of his films throughout the 1940s were costumed period piece epics, such as The Song of Bernadette (1943), A Royal Scandal (1945) with Tallulah Bankhead, and The Three Musketeers (1948) with Lana Turner. All of these films were a return to the heavy-handed tradition of early Hollywood that wanted to churn out bigger-than-the-Bible styled epic films.

Price was often cast in supporting roles in these "A" films, such as Laura (1944) with the luscious Gene Tierney, but his starring roles, for which Price would set himself far above the rest, usually came in the form of "B" pictures. His 1953 film House of Wax would eventually set the stage for a series of horror film roles in the late 1950's through the late 1970's.

In the 1960's, Price had a number of low budget successes with Roger Corman and American International Pictures (AIP) including the Edgar Allan Poe adaptations House of Usher (1960), The Pit and the Pendulum (1961), Tales of Terror (1962), The Comedy of Terrors (1963), The Raven (1963), The Masque of the Red Death (1964), and The Tomb of Ligeia (1965). He also starred in The Last Man on Earth (1964) a film based on the Richard Matheson classic proto-zombie novel I Am Legend.

Vincent was a life long patron of the arts who has inspired countless artists, writers and directors to pursue their own improbable and unpopular dreams. He donated hundreds of his own personal collections of paintings to establish many SoCal galleries.

Vincent Price's health began to badly deteriorate during the production of Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands (1990). The film was his final major film role before dying of lung cancer in L.A. in 1993 leaving behind three wives, son Vincent Barrett Price and daughter Mary Victoria Price.

Selected Filmography:
The Invisible Man Returns (1940)
The Fly (1958)
The House on Haunted Hill (1958)
The Tingler (1959)
The Return of The Fly (1959)
The Pit And The Pendulum (1961)
The Last Man on Earth (1964)
Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine (1965)
Dr. Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs (1966)
The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971)
Dead Heat (1988)
Edward Scissorhands (1990)

References:
Amazon, Vincent Price: A Daughter's Biography Victoria Price, New York: St. Martin's Griffin 2000
I Like What I Know Vincent Price, New York: Doubleday 1958
Wikipedia, Vincent Price
Brian's Drive-In, Vincent Price
Vincent Price P.A., Elizabethtown, KY. Sept. 25, 1980

Flicks: Q The Winged Serpent (1982)

2011-06-24T00:01:00.002-04:00

Who's that ancient deity whose a sex machine with all the chicks? Q! That's who...

Today, in New York City, a flying green snakoid rules w/a tyrannical iron claw. Fiction, sez you? Well, allow me to present Creatures Exhibit #1: Larry Cohen's Q: The Winged Serpent that is. Oh, unwary manlings, the Sleaze-A-Saurus loves him some Larry Cohen. It began with the It's Alive franchise that featured killer mutant babies then the awful consumerism of The Stuff (1984), lasting to present today with his unexpectedly edgy script for Phone Booth (2002).

In 1982's Q, David Carradine (Kill Bill), Richard Roundtree (Shaft, square!) and Micheal Moriarty (Troll) go flyin' snake hunting in downtown NYC. On their way to dispatch the angry, ancient Aztec god of thunder, zany hi-jinks and also, automatic gunfire ensues.

The 80's produced three worthwhile things: big hair, B. A. Baracus and bad movie posters.

The animation for the monster was done with a remarkable similarity in style to Ray Harryhausen (Clash Of The Titans) but the film remains universally disliked by many. Dave Allen (Rick Baker's assistant on The Howling in '82) was on the Animation Production Team that animated Q. Allen went on to several high-profile assignments including: Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983), acting as chief puppeteer for Spielberg's *batteries not included (1987), at George Lucas' ILM for Ghostbusters II (1989), and Allen worked on Puppet Master II and V as the visual effects supervisor for his own company, David Allen Productions.

Randall William Cook, also on the Animation Production Team for Q, went on to work on all three Lord of The Rings films as an Animation Designer and Supervisor at Weta Digital in New Zealand for Peter Jackson.

References:
IMDB, Q (1982)
IMDB, Ghostbusters II (1989)
Motion/Capture, The Last Time I Saw Quezacotl

Flicks: The Manster (1962)

2011-06-16T00:00:00.004-04:00

A tale of two cultures featuring a two-headed beastie w/a serious thang for the ladies.

Welcome to beautiful rural Japan! Home to lovely dark-eyed ladies, lush forests, evocative nightlife and - blood thirsty two-headed beasties?! So it goes in this United Artists "co-production" between Japanese and US production studios in a film that was originally released in Japan in 1959 and the US in 1962.

In the Manster, professional foreign news correspondent and part-time sucker Mr. Larry Stanford (Peter Dyneley voice of The Thunderbirds) finds himself an unwitting test subject for the nefarious, volcano dwelling Japanese scientist Dr. Suzuki's experiments in "eviloution". Unbeknownst to the the rube, Suzuki uses a mysterious serum to mutate Stanford into a murderous two-headed monster who sets about wrasslin' country girls, caustic secretaries and Buddhist monks.

In a scene from this film that was later re-enacted by Sam Raimi in Evil Dead III 40 years later ol' Stanford sprouts an eye from his shoulder that becomes a full on monkey head! A must see groan fest for innumerable reasons...

References:
IMDB, The Manster (1962)
Wikipedia, The Manster
Girls, Guns and Ghouls, Beware Of Manster

Actresses: Kelly Hu

2011-06-12T09:27:00.006-04:00

Sexy Chinese Actress Kelly Hu has been in 77 films and counting.

In a category set at a high bar, actress Kelly Hu is seriously close to perfection. An actress and a model w/V.O. credits and roles on many hit TV shows Kelly Hu began working in TV as far back as Growing Pains and Night Court in the 1980's.

Hu, like many Chinese actresses in American movies, appear almost perfect and poised with classically chiseled porcelain features, such as the flawless Ziyi Zhang. She reflects the best of the Middle Kingdom's culture such as devotion, intelligence and presence-of-mind but is highly feminine and sensitive in a way many American women are not.

The Sleaze-A-Saurus strongly insists that is the fault of Western culture to de-valuate grace and beauty in favor of brutishness and boorishness. Actresses like Kelly Hu will always serve as an interesting comparison to Lady Doo Doo (Gaga) and Britney Spears as the peaks of two rival cultures!

References:
IMDB, Kelly Hu
Asian-Americans.com, Actresses

Flicks: They Call Her One-Eye (1974)

2011-06-01T00:01:00.004-04:00

Rape-Revenge genre features both sides of the curious manling's fantasy life. Not terribly complicated creatures are you?

They Call Her One-Eye, the US cut of Thriller – A Cruel Picture, was originally a Swedish rape-revenge film starring Christina Lindberg as Frigga. Lindberg's acting resume is deceptively short but includes co-starring with Japanese beauty Reiko Ike in the amazing The Sex and The Fury (1973). In They Call Her One Eye, Lindberg's character, Frigga, is introduced as a young girl who was rendered mute during a childhood sexual assault. After spending years on her family's secluded farm she finds herself, as a teenager in the city, Frigga is friggin' raped again.

Frigga (Christina Lindberg) sez adios to an old pal - with lead.

This time, she's attacked Tony a shabby lookin' pimp (portrayed by Heinz Hopf) who decides it would be the bee's knees if he digs out her left eye with a rusty X-acto knife. Which he does in a great 1st person POV shot that can only be the result of 60's and 70's experimental film-making.

A One-Eyed Lindberg soon finds herself kidnapped by Tony the Pimp, addicted to junk and forced into sexual slavery as a prostitute. At this point, any other gal woulda gave in - but not Frigga. No friggin' way. After returning to her family's farm Frigga learnes her parents have committed suicide due to evil letters sent by Tony the Pimp and swears a cold-blooded vengeance upon her former captors. Frigga learns martial arts, race car driving and of course - the best in mid-1970's military weaponry.

Christina Lindberg kicks junk - then kicks ass.

Director Bo Arne Vibenius (who appears as a Hot Dog vendor in this flick) also made Breaking Point (1975) (credited as one Ron Silberman Jr.) an even more demented movie than this film. Vibenius's short directorial body of work includes a total of three films which have been called "psycho-pornographic thrillers".

References:
IMDB, Thriller: They Call Her One-Eye
IMDB, Bo Arne Vibenius
Wikipedia, Thriller
You Tube, Theatrical Trailer
Das Grindhaus, Thriller - A Cruel Picture
Mangled Media, Christina Lindberg Galleries

Flicks: Blackenstein (1973)

2011-05-31T03:01:00.003-04:00

Crackenstein axes his self the perennial existential question: Why is I here, foe?

Ladies and Jerklemen, with a deep sense of heartfelt pride, I present to you William A. Levy's one-of-a-kind journey into classic B minus film-making...Blackenstein!

In the funky, soulful 70's, when Eddie Turner (Joe DeSue) returns from Vietnam minus his arms and legs, Dr. Winnifred Walker (Ivory Stone) appeals to her former teacher Nobel Prize winner Dr. Stein (played by John Hart) for help. Luckily, Dr. Stein has been tinkering about with a mysterious new substance he calls DNA. He happily accommodates the couple by growing Eddie some new arms and legs in a big-ass vat of the futuristic goo. Not bad, eh, manlings?

If only the actual movie made as much sense as these jangled film stills.

Somehow, the experiment unexpectedly goes awry. Eddie promptly sprouts a square afro, dons ankle boots, and lurches out into the night in order to awkwardly cop feels from random women. The last half hour is virtually incoherent. However, Levy's career didn't suffer greatly after this film and he went on to make Wham, Bam, Thank You Spaceman (1975) two years later.

This film is so, so, so, so bad you'll need to turn up the 23 minute version of Pink Floyd's "Carefull With That Axe Eugene" a lot louder than usual. It helps.

References:
IMDB, Blackenstein
Grindhouse, Blackenstein
Stomp Toyko, Blackenstein

Flicks: The Love-Ins (1967)

2011-05-31T00:01:00.007-04:00

Like WOW, Dad - it's ... so crazy significant, see?

In the late 1960's, manlings eradicated a subspecies of human called "hippies". Hippies were terminated due to their lack of hygiene, poor grammar and an all-around no-goodnik general attitude. These strange creatures erroneously believed that flowers had the power to stop bullets - probably due to being hepped up on goofballs.

The Love-Ins is a quasi-documentary of this patriotic genocide based on the life of Timothy Leary and shot in the heart of the 1960's San Francisco art and music scene. The Love-Ins features Susan Oliver (one of the Green Ladies on Star Trek TOS) and a cross-section of Haight-Ashbury musical groups such as the psychedelisized cover-group The Chocolate Watch Band.

In closing, the Sleaze-A-Saurus heartily congratulates all contemporary scaleless manlings on their ancestors ability to thin their own herd while wishing a fond farewell to no-goodnik hippie types.

References:
Wikipedia, The Love-Ins (1967)
IMDB, The Love-Ins (1967)
Turner Classic Movies, The Love-Ins (1967)
Edward McNally, LA 1967

Hippie related products are available at:

Flicks: Italian Spiderman (2007)

2011-05-15T23:13:00.007-04:00

Let's just see American Spiderman control the minds of penguins. Try that, Spidey.

Publicized as a lost Italian action film from the late 1960s, Italian Spiderman began as a student film by an Australian film-making collective formed by Dario Russo, Tait Wilson, David Ashby, Will Spartalis and Boris Repasky at Flinders University.

When the short was uploaded to YouTube in late 2007 it has gained a massive cult following with over 3 million views as of August 2010.

References:
Wikipedia, Italian Spiderman (film)
Facebook Group, Italian Spiderman
Myspace, Itlain Spiderman
Youtube, Episode #01

Italian Spiderman is available at:

Flicks: Cannibal Girls (1973)

2011-05-14T00:01:00.001-04:00

Jeepers! Like, what's eating you, Barbara?

American International's^[0] Cannibal Girls was Ivan Reitman's (Ghostbusters, Animal House) first feature film. It also features Eugene Levy (SCTV and American Pie) as potential lunch for a bevy of curvy young cannibals. The movie was shot in 1973, in rural areas surrounding Toronto, Ontario. Oh, did I mention that it was made with a low, low budget ($12,000 large in Canadian Dollars according to Schlockmania.com) and most of the dialogue was improvised? Score!

Who knew the key to a healthy diet was plenty of gratuitous nudity? The Sleaze-A-Saurus, that's who.

In the picture, three young women are led by a smooth talkin' Reverend whose slick sermons usually concern the many merits of cannibalism. They encounter the wandering freaknik Eugene Levy and his lovely gal pal Gloria. The two try to stay off the dinner menu for the next 84 minutes. A lotta boobs, sudden moments of gore and a genuine creepiness pervade the film which debuted at South by Southwest in 1973.

Notes:
[0] = American International was an infamous B-movie distributor from 1956 to 1980. AI specialized in low budget horror, double features and exploitation releases. A short list of AI releases include: Reform School Girls (1957), Roger Corman's The Raven (1963), Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine (1965) and The Amityville Horror (1979).

More about AI co-founder Samuel Arkoff's "secret formula" at the Wikipedia Article.

References:
IMDB, American International Pictures
IMDB, Cannibal Girls (1973)
Wikipedia, American International Pictures
Schlock Mania, Cannibal Grrrls DVD
Bogeydom Licensing Ontario, Cannibal Ghouls

Cannibal Girls is available at:

The Incredible Melting Man (1977)

2011-05-05T10:18:00.008-04:00

Before becoming the Incredible Melting Man, Steve West was a mime who pretended to turn to stone. That's pretty ironic, right?

May is Melting Man Month at the Sleaze Blender! What better way to begin this merry month of melting then with the seminal Incredible Melting Man (1977)?

Since it's original release in the late 1970's The Incredible Melting Man has achieved enduring infamy as one of the most shocking and horrifying movies made in America. The flick lives on, near and dear your ol' pal the Sleaze-A-Saurus' heart in the same way that Bela, Boris and Lon Chaney do - with a toothy gravestone grin.

It should be noted that The Incredible Melting Man was Rick Baker's first picture as a Make-Up artist. The venerable Baker recently won an Oscar in 2010 for the awful Wolf Man re-make starring Benicio "The Samoan" del Toro. This award is interpreted, by some, as a retro-active Oscar for his eye-popping work on The Howling, An American Werewolf In London, Micheal Jackson's Thriller and David Cronenberg's Videodrome.

References:
IMDB, The Incredible Melting Man (1977)
IMDB, Rick Baker

Flicks: Street Trash (1987)

2011-05-04T10:24:00.007-04:00

Street Trash: it's easy to find us - we're all over the place.

May is Melting Man Month at the Sleaze Blender! All month long The Sleaze-A-Saurus will be featuring the best of 60 years of jellified manlings captured on tape with the magic of cinema.

The genre of Melting Men is much larger than you'd first imagine. Simply ponder this, scaleless manling: any action movie or TV show that you've ever viewed contains at least one shot of a man one fire - introducing you to a small portion of a sub-genre of Action and Horror known as the Incredible Melting Man. Not very coincidentally, cult classic The Incredible Melting Man (1977) was a movie that firmly capitalized specifically on this inter-genre craze.

Director Jim Muro's Street Trash features an enterprising manling who industriously decides to sell a substance labeled Viper to his exclusive clientele of hobos, winos and derelicts for the reasonable price of 1 Earth dollar per bottle. Once consumed, the liquid painfully reduces it's victim to a pile of colorful ooze and a few singed bones.

Muro is known as one of the best Steadicam operators in the business. Street Trash utilized the freedom of the Steadicam to go into dingy settings in New York's Bowery instead of attempting to re-create the same level of filth and scum in the studio. Muro went onto work on a number of A and B pics on Steadicam including Titantic, Jason Takes Manhattan, Terminator 2 and the last two of the X-Men films.

As for the content regarding Melting People. Street Trash explores the human body as a delicate and decaying canvas for horror. This approach would later be seen in Peter Jackson's (LOTR) Bad Taste, in Blade and House Of 1,000 Corpses. Street Trash has become a touchstone for fringe horror fans and film makers by setting the standard for "overboard" gore.

References:
IMDB, Street Trash (1987)

Flicks: Mutant Zombies From The Hood (2008)

2011-05-02T10:09:00.004-04:00

Oh ... So that's why they call 'em Crips and Bloods!

In 2008, massive packs of blood-thirsty animals roamed freely in downtown L.A. streets like a deadly disease. They moved in human form while feeding on the slow, the weak and the unwary. Then the zombies attacked.

Director Thunder Levin attempts to bridge the gap between an A-Picture actor, with C. Thomas Howell (Soul Man, Bay Watch, The Outsiders) and a B-movie script in Mutant Zombies From The Hood (2008). Levin has been a periphery figure in several films as an on-set photographer for studio promotional work. It was in this dubious capacity that he worked on Saturday the 14th Strikes Back (1988) the awful sequels to the even more awful Saturday the 14th (1981) horror movie franchise parody.

References:
IMDB, Mutant Zombies From The Hood (2008)
IMDB, Thunder Levin
Stormfront Films, Company Profile

Collections: Monster Kid Magazine

2011-05-01T00:01:00.006-04:00

Monster Kid Magazine. What your inner child musta choked to death on.

Kinda funny. Disturbing. Really Awful. Childish. These are just some of the terms that scaleless manlings have used to describe the underground E-zine known as Monster Kid Magazine.

Monster Kid is inspired by the classic monster magazine tradition popularized by James Warren and Forrest J. Ackerman in the original Famous Monsters Of Filmland, in indie publications like RE/Search, Draculina, and in more mainstream publications like Fangoria.

References:
Monster Kid Magazine, Welcome!
Famous Monsters Of Filmland, Home
RE/Search Publications, RE/Blog

Flicks: Puppet Master (1989)

2011-04-15T00:01:00.000-04:00

Trailer courtesy of Frightasm Films.

In the 13-page-long Rant Against Animal Snuff from earlier this week the Sleaze-A-Saurus may have suggested 80-year-old Jess Franco be roughed up for a movie he made 30 years ago? Maybe it's time to get back to B-movie reviews?

Puppet Master (1989), released direct-to-video by Full Moon Pictures, is the tale of mystic and magician Andre Toulon's happy-go-lucky creations in which he imbued the ability to make sequel after sequel. During the eight films that followed thr original Puppet Master - the puppets did what they did best: killing Yuppies and snuffing Nazis.

Due to Toulon's infinite wisdom, the puppets busy themselves wiping out phony psychics, Yuppie scumbags and evil Nazi douches in one whacky misunderstanding after another. Oh the hilarity!

Blade has the soul of a poet and the right hand of Jason Vorhees.

Attention to craftsmanship and animation is very impressive considering Full Moon's iffy reputation. Full Moon is the same company that confronted the world with Tim Thomerson in Doll Man (1990) and recently launched Gingerdead Man 2: Passion of the Crust (2009) onto the indie film circuit.

Another reason Puppetmaster is an unusually good B-movie, according to research by T.L. Bugg of The Lightning Bug's Lair more talent than usual was involved in the film by way of puppeteer David Allen who was later nominated for an Oscar for his work on Young Indiana Jones and the cinematography of Sergio Salvati who previously worked with Italian gorehouse film-maker Lucio Fulci. However, big hair and bitchin' mullets threaten to choke the rest of the movie to death in this, the first of the Puppetmaster movies.

Let us now bow our heads, remembering those brave puppets who gave their lives fighting the evil forces of Braying Yuppies and National Socialism:


Jester 1939-2003
	Before he became a puppet Jester was a man named Hans Seiderman, a bookkeeper who loved to play pranks and tell jokes - which ended up giving him Gestapo lead poisoning. Jester wanted to kill Yuppies and Nazis, but sadly, he was only armed with pathos and rubber chickens.


Blade 1939 - 2003
	Blade has the soul of Dr. Hess, a German scientist and medical doctor. He was armed with a four-inch knife for a right hand and a hook for his left - perfect for making-out with chicks or just tidying up around the house. Blade was used to kill Yuppies and Nazis under various puppet masters.


Leech Woman 1939-2003
	Before she was a puppet Leech Woman was Andre Toulon's wife Elsa Toulon. Elsa was murdered by a Nazi Major named Krause when she tried to stop the Nazis from kidnapping Andre and his puppets. Leech Woman was used to kill Yuppies and Nazis under various puppet masters. With leeches.


Pinhead 1939 - 2003
	Before he became a puppet, Pinhead was a German man named Herman Strauss, a truck driver who secretly brought food to the Jewish ghettos. As a result, he was killed by Nazis for stealing schnitzel. As a puppet, Pinhead was incredibly strong but not so bright. Pinhead was used to kill Yuppies and Nazis under various puppet masters.


Tunneler 1939 - 2003
	Before Tunneler became a puppet with a drill on top of his head he was a regular type US GI. Tunneler was inhabited by the ghost of an American Soldier who was captured and forced to work in the salt mines by the Nazis. After his conversion, Tunneler was used to kill Yuppies and Nazis under various puppet masters.
The total, to date, of Puppetmaster series includes: this original Puppetmaster (1989), Puppet Master II (1990), Puppet Master III: The Toys Revenge (1991) in WWII Germany, Puppet Master IV (1993), Puppet Master V: The Final Chapter (1994), which was of course followed by The Curse of The Puppet Master (1998), the truly bizarre Retro Puppet Master (1998) and the last film, Legacy of Puppet Master (2003).

References:
Wikipedia, Puppetmaster
IMDB, Puppetmaster (1989)
Lightnin' Jack's Spooge Pile, Pulls My Strings, Baby!
Ween.net, Puppet Master Movie Clips
Stoner Movies, Curse of The Yuppies
Gingerdead Man 2: Boogaloo Sold Separately

Flicks: Dinosaurus! (1960)

2011-03-30T00:01:00.003-04:00

Outside capitalistic America, dinosaur makes you extinct!

In an unlikely precursor to Jurassic Park, two perfectly preserved dinos are dredged outta the Caribbean Ocean near St. Croix by an engineering crew only to have a freak lightning bolt Frankenstein up the beasties. The dinos are inexplicably joined by a uni-brow sporting Caveman named Dumpy (seriously) and spend the next 80 minutes being ridden, or alternately, chasing the cast around the small islands screamin'.

The picture stars Ward Ramsey, Paul Lukather and Kristina Hanson - Hanson reportedly quit acting shortly afterwards (who can blame her?) to become a 6th grade teacher in California. Paul Lukather, however, went on to enjoy a long and lucrative career that's lasted to this day having appeared in 77 film roles including voice acting for Metal Gear: Sons Of Liberty (2001), Pirates of Darkwater and three of the Blood Omen/Legend of Kain video games.

References:
IMDB, Dinosaurus! (1960)
Wikipedia, Dinosaurus!

Flicks: The Prowler (1951)

2011-03-29T14:03:00.006-04:00

A masterpiece of sexual creepiness, institutional corruption and suffocating passion.⁰

The Prowler (1951) director Joseph Losey also directing the US version of Fritz Lang's M in 1951 and The Concrete Jungle (1960). His neglected masterpiece capitalizes on film noir biggies such as Double Indemnity (1944). It was written by legendary blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo (Johnny Get Your Gun, Spartacus). In fact, Losey was called before HUAC during the production of The Prowler to testify against the Hollywood 10 but instead exiled himself to England where he lived the rest of his life.

In 1951's The Prowler, a nefarious cop named Webb (played by Helfin) stalks a lonely, repressed Los Angeles housewife and decides to win her in the traditional film noir fashion - by knocking off her husband!

The DVD release has been restored to its original high contrast glory by the Film Noir Foundation and the UCLA Film & Television Archive.

Notes: 0 = A quote by L.A. Confidential and Black Dahlia novelist James Ellroy used to decribe the film.

References:
IMDB, First-Time Felon
IMDB, Jospeh Losey
IMDB, The Prowler (1951)
Toronto Film Fest, The Prowler

Flicks: Bride Of Re-Animator (1990)

2011-03-26T00:01:00.022-04:00

See? I toldja not all women is heartless lunatics! ...um, could I rephrase that?

Date. Mate. Re-animate. This is how one well written review recently interpreted the 1990 installment of the zombie-horror Re-Animator series, Bride Of Re-Animator (1990).

The Re-Animator series combines two genres: Zombie Survival, in the vein of Night of The Living Dead (1968) and Otherworldly Horror as seen in the remarkable Into The Mouth of Madness (1993). It accomplishes this combination fairly regularly with the unique talents of actor Jeffrey Combs, writer Stuart Gordon (Re-Animator (1985), Robot Jox (1990) and Honey I Blew Up the Kid (1992)), and director Brian Yuzna (Return of the Living Dead III (1993) and Silent Night, Deadly Night 4 (1990)). In the series, the cerebral horror of H.P. Lovecraft is applied to classically gruesome material.

Ol' Doc West goes back to the chopping block - er, drawing board, for the perfect mate.

Combs stars as series anti-hero Doctor Herbert West, a pioneering young lad, who wants nothing more than to rule forever over an army of undead sub-mutants with his re-animation serum. The problem is: Herbert is a bookish square who is hooked on his own elixir - high on his own supply you might say. This presents some classic logistic problems in the form of domineering colleagues, bungling assistants and Miss-Animations: mishaps from the green goo of life being introduced into cadavers too far gone to be anything more that lumpy homicidal retards. Like trying to teach roadkill how to do binomial Algebra - it just ain't gonna happen, Doc. But, wow, does Herbert try anyway!

Jeffrey Combs performances defines the series. His acting talents have seen him play nine different re-occurring roles, in various capacities, on two of the modern Star Trek series. It could be argued that Combs single-handedly resurrected sci-fi acting standards with his role in the final spin-off series Star Trek: Enterprise (2001-2005) as the xenophobic Andorian Captain Shran. The re-occurring role shook the sentimental sugar-coating of TNG* ("I say Numbah One, isn't that agaynst Stah Fleet regulations?") and the dull hesitancy of the lackluster Voyager series. Combs renewal of dedication to character paved the way for J.J. Abrahams and Bad Robot's mixed results re-vamping of Star Trek (2009).

"I think that the movies that I’ve been in aren’t exactly character-driven. They are atmospheric. This sets the tone for the entire film."

- Jeffrey Combs in an exclusive interview w/the Sleaze-A-Saurus.

In a recent interview, exclusively with yer pal the Sleaze-A-Saurus in March of 2011 Combs described the genre of horror by saying: "A lot of those (slasher) films are mindless. They don’t come from a literary background.” Combs pin-points the central flaw when describing the bad H.P. Lovecraft "adaptations" and well-financed masked slasher flicks that come in unrelenting waves since in the 1970's original "meanies".

Combs, clearly fearing that he would soon be consumed by the Sleaze-A-Saurus, went on to say: "I think that the movies that I’ve been in aren’t exactly character-driven. They are atmospheric. This sets the tone for the entire film."

This was probably the smartest thing that any scaleless manling has ever said to the Sleaze-A-Saurus, to date. So, Mr. Combs was consumed fairly quickly with not much skull-gnawing.

Meeting Zombie Princess Drano (Fabiana Udenio) had Herbert in stitches for weeks.

According to research done by on-line miscreants Analog Medium The Bride was given a slightly bigger budget allowing for much better visual FX engineered by a total of five different teams of effects wizards, including the KNB Effects Group, who went on to create FX for Army of Darkness and Kill Bill.

Another Re-Animator installment, House of Re-Animator with William H. Macy reportedly starring as The Zombie President (!), has been announced on IMDB. Writer Stuart Gordon has dismissed this report and previous rumors of another chapter, such as Re-Animator 3D, before. In more Re-Animator news, Bride director Brian Yuzna has a dubious new release in post-production for a 2010 release called Amphibious 3D shot in Indonesia.

Notes: * = TNG or Texas Necktie Guild aka Toledo's Noisiest Gimps was a unpopular reality show that briefly aired (due to a technical difficulty) in the 1990's.

References:
IMDB, Re-Animator (1985)
IMDB, Stuart Gordon
Alpha Memory, Jeffrey Combs
Analog Medium, Bride Of Re-Animator
Lets Talk About Horror Baby, Necromantic Comedies of 1990

Flicks: First-Time Felon (1997)

2011-03-20T00:01:00.015-04:00

Cracksploitation is made of one-part baking powder and two-parts puffed-up cliches.

Before The Wire or The Sopranos hit the air, HBO tackled crime in a less glamorous fashion. In 1997, Home Box Office released the made-for-cable movie First-Time Felon about real-life Chicago crack dealer turned youth counselor Greg Yance.

First-Time Felon is the directorial debut of Charles "Roc" Dutton (Alien 3) and the movie begins as pure cracksploitation (Boys N Da Hood, Sugar Hill, Juice, New Jack City) before it takes a more humanizing turn in all places: USMC Boot Camp set in the background of Stank Pit, Florida.

Veteran actors John Forsyche (Raising Arizona, Devil's Rejects), Rachel Ticotin (Total Recall, Predator 2), Delroy Lindo (Get Shorty) and Omar Epps as Greg Yance star in this tale of narco traffickers, prison and an unlikely redemption of a former crack-gang member.

References:
IMDB, First-Time Felon
Wikipedia, First-Time Felon (movie)
Prison Movies.net, First-Time Felon
Jet Magazine, Sept. 15th 1997

Directors: John Carpenter

2011-03-18T00:01:00.017-04:00

John Carpenter in the process of editing Escape From LA in 1996.

John Carpenter is a one-of-a-kind film director who created classic horror movies including the Halloween franchise and Escape From New York, starred in hardcore horror TV shows like Body Bags and was know for writing his own minimalist and experimental soundtracks for his work from 1970 up to the present day.

Carpenter was born in Carthage, New York in 1948 and moved to Bowling Green, Kentucky as a boy. Carpenter grew up in a log cabin and was educated in a one-room schoolhouse. According to his biography, John Carpenter: The Prince of Darkness by Gilles Boulenger, he also grew up around the elements that eventually fed into his movies.

On one hand, he had his musically talented parents - his father was a virtuoso violinist and music professor, on the other hand in talking about his childhood to Robert Koehler in Variety in 1991, he says he was surrounded by indescribable and brutal violence from an early age.

These conflicting elements would contribute to his desire to play and compose, which he does for nearly all his films, that deal with violence and death.

He began college at Western Kentucky University where his father, Howard Carpenter, taught classical music courses but transferred to USC for Cinematic Arts in 1968. One of his short films, The Resurrection of Bronco Billy (1970), won an Student Academy Award and was nationally distributed before he graduated in 1971. The themes of his later films were shaped by the political turbulence in the late 1960's, especially in California, which figured directly into the movies he directed.

Kurt Douglas and John Carpenter prepare to do battle in Big Trouble In Little China (1986).

For example, strife leading to crucial and uneasy alliances in The Thing (1982), the politics of poverty among the "have-nots" in They Live (1988), and the brutality of prison culture in Escape From New York (1981) were films that were based on issues that defined the 1960's.

College-aged kids protesting the war, white and black activists in SNCC and other on campus groups in the 1960's, such as in the Freedom Riders and Viet Nam Veterans Against The War, had their lives regularly threatened. At demonstrations and boycotts protesters faced anonymous death threats, angry crowds of police and counter-protests in America. When racial tensions exploded, USC students, whether they had political agenda or not were in the center of LA to witness the riots of 1965 in Watts and in 1968 and 1971 in greater LA.

This kind of rage can be seen in the The Thing as the body of man rebels under an "alien" influence to destroy human command structure from above. The story is told through the eyes of the unlikely and lowest ranking heroes, Kurt Russell and Keith David, who end up, presumably, as the sole survivors. The plot follows a isolated, disintegrating outpost where anyone can be the enemy as an alien organism destroys the tiny Antarctic outpost. Lawlessness and a constant threat of horrible death from friends in claustrophobic quarters makes a great horror film. It is reflective of the social chaos in LA and the paranoia of Cold War politics.

As the Antarctic base is destroyed, along with any hope of survival inside of the military station, MacReady and Childs are left to die in the subzero cold as they carefully watch each other for signs that one of them is also "The Thing"⁰.

In John Carpenter's futuristic 1988 LA, ads get right to the point.

The themes of societal upheaval and individual paranoia are echoed in They Live (1988). In this film, the fight is taken to the Establishment by "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and Keith David. The Establishment in this is case are corporate aliens who are "buying" Earth by co-opting it's wealthiest citizens. The aliens lay waste to human higher brain function through TV, media and money while sending riot police into LA to destroy misfits - those who won't "play ball".

This time, at the end of then film, there are no survivors. David and Piper are executed by Piper's traitorous love interest. As he is shot in the back, Piper, or Nada as Carpenter dubs his hero for this film, attacks the alien signal used to control and corrupt humans. The signal, broadcast from on top of an LA tv station, is temporarily disrupted. At the end of the picture, the aliens are revealed for what they are - bug-eyed zombies.

In each of these fiercely anti-authoritarian films, the heroes are fighting off a powerful, nebulous and shape-shifting enemy. This enemy's most deadly ability is to co-opt or "take over" a friend from the inside much like in the the Thing.

However, in They Live, the former friends choose to "play ball" with their evil master for financial gain. This was much like informants and FBI agents that monitored the completely legal activities of civil rights leaders, youth groups and activist organizations in the 1960's and 1970's.

In They Live and as in real life, an embedded enemy could be right among the movement - never to reveal itself until it was too late.

In these films, there is an added degree of realism. The heroes don't like each other but work together to survive against a powerful enemy. It's interesting to note that Keith David appeared in both The Thing and They Live as an unwilling accomplice. In each film, his character bitterly fought against the outsider protagonist embodied either as the sombrero slinging MacReady or the angry drifter Nada. After fighting to a near stand-still, David played a pivotal role in destroying the threat to Man's dominion in The Thing and disrupting the sale of Man's soul in They Live.

Issac Hayes the A #1 Duke of New York, Harry Dean Stanton as Brain and Adrienne Barbeau as Maggie.

The revolt of prisoners in Attica, New York in 1971, due to brutal conditions and severe overcrowding (ACF was built to hold 1,200 inmates and housed 2,225) comes in the form of the Duke of New York played by Issac Hayes. The Duke takes the President of the United States (a quaking Donald Pleasance) hostage in exchange for escape from the giant prison city.

The Duke uses his army of criminals to first hunt down the President and then kill the nearly unkillable Snake Plissken, a veteran warrior given the impossible task of tracking down and saving Donald Pleasance's neck. At the end, Plissken succeeds and none of the prisoners Plissken bargains with escape New York. Freed, the President returns with an audio tape containing with what he assumes is the formula for a cold war doomsday weapon. Instead, he is in possession of Ernest Borgnine's rockin' big band mix. The formula was the real reason why Plissken really went inside the city prison in the first place. The ending confirms Carpenter's view of the cold blooded nature of bureaucracy by placing the value of a weapon over human life - even when that life is the President of the United States.

This theme is recognizable in American culture and history. Greed, riots, and outsider heroes in situations echoing the social changes taking place in America. Audiences responded to John Carpenter's sci-fi and horror films because they were socially relevant and very entertaining. The characters had a grim credibility because they could have walked the streets of 1960's LA just as easily as they did in post-Apocalyptic New York.

Before his first big success in film, Carpenter worked on a shoestring budget on Halloween (1978) which cost $320,000 to make but made $45 million in the US when released. The unofficial word is: the original Micheal Myers mask for Halloween was actually a rubber William Shatner "Kirk" mask painted white early into production. The Fog (1980) made as a "studio" film for $1 million and earned $21 million in the US when most films cost 10 times as much to make.

When his career gained momentum in Hollywood during the production of The Fog, and two years after Halloween was released, Carpenter married the film's star Adrienne Barbeau who starred in Escape From New York (1981), Swamp Thing (1982), and George Romero's Creepshow (1982)). In the late seventies, Barbeau was one of the hottest actresses and sex symbols in the world. Carpenter was on top of the world both personally and professionally. The two were married from 1979 to 1984 and had a son together in May of 1984.

Today, John Carpenter is still a good friend of Stephen King and George Romero both of whom he has worked with on major films like Christine (1983) as a director and as a producer for Creepshow (1982). Aside from the many terrible Halloween sequels, he enjoys what most director's dream of: recognition for a series of uncompromising films that were both critically and popularly successful.

Selected Filmography:
Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)
Halloween (1978)
Elvis (1979) made for TV
The Fog (1980)
Escape From New York (1981)
The Thing (1982) - score by Ennio Morricone AD'ed by Howard Hawks
Big Trouble In Little China (1986)
They Live (1988)
Into The Mouth of Madness (1995)

Notes:
0 = The prequel to John Carpenter's Thing was filmed in Toronto and will be released in the U.S. on October 14^th 2011.

References:
Wikipedia, John Carpenter
Official John Carpenter Site, Variety Interview By Robert Koehler
Marc Bright, John Carpenter Bio
Unofficial John Carpenter, Forum
VVAW, Viet Nam Veterans Against The War
Discover Networks, Modern Propaganda Against VVAW

Video-On-Demand is available at:

Events: Cinema Wasteland

2011-03-13T15:00:00.003-04:00

Just when you thought it was safe to go back to Ohio...

Presenting the annual Horror Con, just outside Cleveland, that's so nice they're having it twice this year. First, from April 1st, 2nd and 3rd and then from September 30th, Oct 1st and 2nd.

Past speakers and guest have included Christina Linberg (Maid In Sweden, Thriller: A Cruel Motion Picture aka They Call Her One Eye), Jason Vorhees' Mum Betsy Palmer and Lynn Lowry (I Drink Your Blood!, Cronenberg's Orgy of The Blood Leeches aka Shivers and the original Crazies (1973)).

This year, in addition to 2 screening rooms running rare indie and cult flicks, Italian giallo director Ruggero Deodato (the pseudo-doc Cannibal Holocaust), Micheal Berryman (the original Hills Have Eyes and The Devil's Rejects), David Hess (the original Last House On The Left) and effects animator Tom Sullivan (The Evil Dead franchise) will be the guests of honor.

Ruggero's pseudo-documentary Cannibal Holocaust features gore galore.

Other notables include infamous 60's sexploitation director Radley Metzger(!), Mr. William Forsythe (The Devil's Rejects, Raising Arizona and The Untouchables tv series) as well as a wide selection of public access horror show hosts from Ohioland with many knowledgeable vendors from all over the Midwest.

Tickets are a great deal at $15 for a 1-Day Pass and $35 for a 3-Day VIP Pass.

Cinema Wasteland
PO Box 8
Berea, OH. 44017

(440) 891-1920
zombies@cinemawasteland.com

Cannibal Holocaust is available at:

Flicks: Something Weird (1967)

2011-03-10T00:01:00.011-05:00

H.G. Lewis' film from 1967 inspired the iconic video label in 1990.

The Movie:
HG Lewis's Something Weird (1967) is a cheap grinder about E.S.P. and "black magic" looks an awful lot like Blood Feast (1963) but was more watchable than the truly no-budget Gruesome Twosome (1967) which featured decapitated mannequin heads as central characters ... with lines.

From 1960 to 1977, H.G. Lewis, who is alive and well today, used threadbare scripts and strippers-turned-actresses to shoot no-budget grindhouse movies in Chigago and Southern Florida. Prior making movies like the awful Wizard Of Gore (1970) (shot in Chicago in 1968) Lewis was a literature professor at Mississippi State and later worked in radio. After leaving film-making Lewis started building Communicomp, which became a powerhouse P.R. firm in Florida before being bought for $15 million in 1997.

OK, smart guy. So whatta you wanna call the movie?

The Company:
H.G. Lewis's film from 1967 became Mike Vraney and David Friedman's iconic video label in Seattle in 1990. Something Weird Video was opened by Vraney. Vraney had developed a working relationship with the kings of b-movies, such as Friedman, whose long line of titles included the Erotic Adventures of Zorro (1972), Blood Feast (1963), She Freak (1967) and Blood Feast 2 (2001). Friedman, and film producers like him, cut deals that allowed Vraney to exclusively distribute thousands of VHS/DVD's.

References:
Wikipedia, Something Weird Video
Something Weird Video, About SWV
IMDB, David F. Friedman
IMDB, H.G. Lewis
Dave's Drive-In, H.G. Lewis Filmography

Flicks: Life Force (1985)

2011-02-24T00:03:00.014-05:00

All naked space vampire chicks is evil? Now that is just flat out ignorant.

Life Force (1985) is a British Vampire-Apocalypse film, directed by Tobe Hooper (Texas Chainsaw Massacre in '74) and a stand-out in the often arduous genre (John Carpenter's Vampires, 31 Days Of Night) of vampire movies. The movie sets the standard for later Apocalyptic films like 28 Days Later and Zach Snyder's Dawn Of The Dead (2004) by using amazing effects, great second unit direction of immense crowds and referencing the otherworldly nature of Ridley Scott's Alien (1979).^[0]

Life Force features the incredibly well-cast 20-year-old Mathilda May, a ballerina from the age of eight who won the Premier Prix du Conservatoire de Danse of Paris in 1981 at age 16. Mathilda stars as the evil space vampiress with-no-name who sets her sights on sucking the life out of Earth starting with the hapless Col. Tom Carlsen, played by Steve Railsback (Alligator II: The Mutation and Col. James Vise from Fox's The Visitor from 1997-1998).

Come 'ere and give your Space Momma a big smooch, whydontcha?

The movie, which draws heavily on the tried and true sci-fi tradition of Earthlings vs. Evil-invading aliens, delivers on many levels. The movie takes it's title from the method in which the space vampires feed. By using practicals of vampire corpses/victims combined with a lighting and film effect the movie illustrates the vampiric voodoo that drains humans of their souls. These unwary souls are rendered in a kind of low-voltage blue lightning and snacked on by the space vampires and their thralls.

Notes:
[0] = Life Force's script was in fact written by Alien (1979) writer Dan O'Bannon from the original novel Space Vampires by Colin Wilson. O'Bannon's credits included Total Recall, Alien, Aliens, Alien: Resurrection and AVP: Alien vs. Predator.

References:
IMDB, Life Force
Horror Movie A Day, Life Force
Movie Moses, Lifeforce (1985) Tobe Hooper

Flicks: The Legend Of Hell House (1973)

2011-02-23T00:01:00.010-05:00

In capitalist setting of Hell House, you haunt house.

Acclaimed author Richard Matheson (I Am Legend, The Incredible Shrinking Man) wrote the novel and screenplay for The Legend Of Hell House (1973) starring the impeccable Roddy McDowall (Planet Of The Apes, Fright Night).

Matheson's writing talents capitalized on suspense and isolation to shock American audiences. Besides writing books, Matheson also wrote a total of 14 Twilight Zone episodes including Nightmare at 20,000 Feet starring William Shatner and Steel featuring Lee Marvin. In the novel and in the screen adaptation for Hell House, Matheson sets his sights on the more traditional genre of supernatural horror.

Hell House concerns the demonic spectre of a twisted mad-man reputedly roaming an eerie, isolated mansion - the scene of a brutal massacre. Two psychic mediums (Roddy McDowall and The Food of the Gods's head bitch Lorna, Pamela Franklin) are promised a small fortune to seek out the presence of this evil and drive it away. The hang-up is: Roddy and Pam begin to suspect that that evil force is very much alive and well.

In 2010, Richard Matheson was inducted in Sci-Fi Hall of Fame while Alan Hume (Star Wars VI: Return Of The Jedi and Lifeforce), Hell House's director of photography passed away at the age of 86.

References:
Wikipedia, Richard Matheson
Wikipedia, Legend Of Hell House
IMDB, Legend Of Hell House (1973)
Science Fiction Hall Of Fame, Richard Matheson: 2010

Actresses: Tura Satana

2011-02-17T19:22:00.007-05:00

And on the eighth day, The Lord made Tura. Amen.

Tura Satana was born in 1935 as Tura Luna Pascual Yamaguchi in Hokkaido, Japan to a Japanese silent film star father and a Cherokee circus performer mother. Today, she is known chiefly for her role of Varla the wild female gang leader in Russ Meyer's cult classic Faster Pussycat, Kill, Kill (1965).

Her infamous "bad girl" role often obscured the sweet, wise and beautiful person that her friends and fans adored. Sadly, Tura passed away in the biggest little town on Earth, Reno Nevada, on February 11^th of 2011 of heart failure.

In her acting and modeling career, Tura was known for her feisty stand-out performances in a lackluster B genre. Tura as Varla defined all similar roles portrayed in films such as H.G. Lewis's Gore Gore Girls (1968) to Michelle Pfeifer's Cat Woman in Bat Man Returns (1992). Arguably, Varla was the role that Tura was born to play.

Tura's childhood shaped her into a self-reliant, sexy and talented actress. She lived a difficult and arduous life that too often defined by bad luck, racism, vicious attacks and car crashes.

As part of US WWII policy towards Japanese-Americans, her entire family was forcibly relocated from Chicago to Manzanar Detention Center outside the desert town of Lone Pine, California when Tura was in elementary school. The Yamaguchi family re-settled in Chicago after the war ended in late 1945.

In Chicago, after being raped as a young girl by a group of five men Tura, learned martial arts as a coping mechanism. Her attackers were never prosecuted. Over the next 15 years, she claims to have tracked down each rapist and enacted revenge.

"I made a vow to myself that I would someday, somehow get even with all of them," she said years later. "They never knew who I was until I told them."

Because of the rape she was sent to reform school. There, she fought against a group of girls that attacked her because of her Asian heritage. The bullying stopped when she beat up a group of 5 girls up. She was expelled from the reform school and returned to parents in the west side of Chicago.

In 1948, when she was 13, Tura married 17-year-old John Satana. The arranged marriage would last less than a year. She would bounce across the country for the next two decades as a burlesque dancer until meeting Russ Meyer who was casting for his next film.

Tura Satana as the wicked Varla in Russ Meyer's cult classic Faster Pussycat, Kill, Kill! (1965).

Several factors in this film would make Tura a star. The movie was shot in the Sonoran desert. Much like Lone Pine, it was a barren and lonely landscape. This had to have stirred up nothing but bad memories for her to work with. She had a dynamite body, dance experience and martial arts training which meant not only could she do her own stunts but Tura looked like a million bucks doing them.

After making The Doll Squad in 1973 Satana was shot by a former lover. The shooting would effectively end her career in film. She worked at an LA hospital and as a 911 dispatcher until in 1981 her back was broken in a car accident. She spent the next two years in and out of hospitals, having two major operations and approximately 15 others.

In 1980, Tura married a retired L.A. police officer and had two daughter together. They remained married for 20 years until her husband died in October 2000. Tura Satana was still extremely active on the convention circuit where she enjoyed being deeply loved and respected by her fans.

In 2010, TURA!, a documentary by Varla Films/Me and Ben Productions about Tura's life and work is scheduled to be released.

References:
Wikipedia, Tura Satana
The Official: Tura Satana
Mad Mad Movies, Faster Pussycat, Kill, Kill! (1965)

Tura Satana DVD's are available at:

Flicks: The Colossus Of New York (1958)

2011-02-06T00:38:00.007-05:00

There's no party like a giant killer robot party. Or, is there?

Midway through this forgotten sci-fi classic the Colossus From Queens (aka the extra tragic Dr. Jeremy Spensser) announces to the World of Man: "It will be necessary to get rid of those ... humanitarians first. You understand? We - must - eliminate - the idealists..."

Never were truer words ever spoken than by the daring Midtown-Ravaging-Manbot! The Colossus of New York (1958) was directed by Eugène Lourié (Art Director for Shock Corridor (1963)) on a shoestring and a script courtesy of Willis Goldbeck who was part of the writing team for The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962).

The Colossus Of New York was the first monster to be both Rhyming and Stealing.

Ol' Doc Jeremy, prior to his accident, was the 1950's World's Authority on developing a new food product - one that woulda saved the Earth from famine due to overpopulation. After the accident, his father William, a brilliant brain surgeon, de-brains Jeremy's body in secret before it's eventual burial. Later, he reveals his de-braining activities to his other son, Henry, keeping Jeremy's brain on life support and hoping to encase it in a colossal robot body. What could go wrong?

The result is a lumbering Manbot who is one handsome sumbitch - large, strong and very, very hostile. The Colossus also develops a unique kind of heat/microwave eye beam that he uses to incinerate many a mouthy New Yorker - who, in retrospect probably had it comin'... another classic film!

References:
IMDB, The Colossus Of New York (1958)
TCM, The Colossus Of New York
Monster Movie Music, Colossus of New York

Flicks: Black Samson (1974)

2011-02-03T00:16:00.008-05:00

Dontchu know, Jack? These streets is for jive-ass turkeys!

Director Chuck Bail unleashed two beautiful gems of blacksploitation onto an unsuspecting American public, both in the mid-70's: Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold and the Mafioso ass-whompin' Black Samson (1974). Black Samson stars small screen TV giant Rockne Tarkington vs. Vernon Wells (Commando (1985), Jack Palance Look-a-Like Contest Winner of 1986, and Wez from Mad Max 2).

What is not to love about the cat? According to the film, he's mean, clean and rules the scene. You manlings can't beat that, not with a giant stick. Or ... can you? See, Mr. Black Samson is a club wielding street vigilante who is "big with his cat" (a caged lion who prowls Samson's club - er bar), "big with his mama" played by the foxy hellcat Connie Strickland (Bummer (1973) and Centerfold Girls (1974)) and "big with his stick" which he uses to whomp the ever-lovin' Bejesus outta smack pushin' mobsters left and muthafuggin' right.

Damn straight.

References:
IMDB, Black Samson (1974)
IMDB, Charles Bail
William Smith.com, Black Death
1hr 18min, Blaxploition Meltdown

Flicks: Ministry of Fear (1944)

2011-01-29T09:59:00.013-05:00

1944 was a long way off from Lasik and contact lenses.

Ministry of Fear is a wartime pic by German expatriate Fritz Lang (Metropolis, Scarlet Street, Woman In The Window) starring Ray Milland (Lost Weekend, The Thing W/Two Heads) and the adorable Marjorie Reynolds.

The flick follows Milland in Blitz Era London as he is released from an insane asylum for the Kevorkian styled mercy killing of his incurably ill wife. After meeting up with a series of underground Resistance members in London, Milland arrives at a seance where Nazi agents and their flunkies operate as spies w/impunity. After some truly evocative lighting sequences, a hallmark of German film, a man at the seance appears to be shot through the head during the proceedings.

Ray Milland, getting the feeling that he isn't particularly well liked.

After being accused of the man's murder, Milland is hunted, bombed and chased never knowing who to trust and who is a Nazi agent. Ministry of Fear is a paranoid, suspenseful flick w/performances and production values that completely outshine anything labeled as a "blockbuster" cranked out of contemporary Hollywood today.

References:
IMDB, Ministry of Fear (1944)
Hollywood Hey Daze, Ray Milland 1905-1986

Flicks: Galaxy of Terror (1981)

2011-01-19T00:01:00.010-05:00

In space, no can hear you plagarize better scripts.

1981 drive-ins in America were assaulted by Roger Corman's classic shocker Galaxy of Terror (1981) aka Mind Warp. In his classic ear-to-the-ground form, Corman's New World Pictures cashes in on Star Wars, Star Trek and Alien by putting together a sci-horror film featuring future horror star Robert "Freddy" Englund and perennial Sleaze-A-Saurus favorite Mr. Sid Haig (House Of 1000 Corpses (2003) and Spider Baby (1968)).

Honey, does this make-up make my face look weird?

The FX scenes for Galaxy of Terror are largely what hold the film together. Several crew members of this doomed spaceship, this one skippered by Eddie Albert (yep that one) and helmed by Ray Walston (My Favorite Martian) being skewered, munched, and even Joanie from Happy Days gets her unwary ass perforated!

Scaless manlings, two beautiful words will make up for the series of hackneyed performances and stilted dialogue carpet bombing Galaxy of Terror: Giant ... Maggot.

References:
IMDB, Galaxy of Terror (1981)
Internal Bleedin', Mind Warped!
Mad Mad Movies, In space, no one can hear you ralph...

Creature Features: The Twilight Zone

2010-12-31T11:59:00.013-05:00

Twilight Zone Sci-Fi marathon season officially opens at the Blender.

The Twilight Zone Episode Guide is dedicated to the series that formally introduced sci-fi and horror to American house holds over 40 years ago. Rod Serling's brainchild took the fears of his generation: atomic warfare, self-annihilating hatred, bitter jealousy, disfiguring greed and fear of the unknown and made them all into flesh and bone - a half hour at a time.

The Zone lives on here at The Blender where yer ol' buddy, The Sleaze-A-Saurus, has kindly rounded up the episodes that have become as familiar in pop culture as the back of the Sleaze-A-Saurus' tentacle is to unwary, scaleless manlings.

The Twilight Zone: Time Enough At Last (1959)
	Burgress Meredith reads Shakespeare in the ashes of the modern world in the classic 1959 Twilight Zone episode Time Enough.

The Twilight Zone: To Serve Man (1962)
	Richard "Jaws" Kiel (of Eegah! fame) converts the population of an unsuspecting Earth into Space Spam in the 1962 Twilight Zone episode To Serve Man.

The Twilight Zone: Two (1961)
	Charles Bronson and Elizabeth Montgomery play Adam and Eve in the post-Apocalyptic world in the 1961 Twilight Zone episode Two.

The Twilight Zone: He's Alive (1963)
	The late Mr. Dennis Hopper, in a break out TV role, delivers one hell of a performance in 1963 in Twlight Zone episode He's Alive.

The Twilight Zone is available at:

Flicks: Ben (1972)

2010-12-05T00:01:00.012-05:00

Ben, Willard's heir apparent, takes his fight to the streets in Ben (1972).

Writer Gilbert Ralston's 1969 book Ratman's Notebooks was made into three surprisingly successful movies: the original Willard (1971), Ben (1972) and the re-make of Willard starring the ever-rapacious Crispin Glover in 2003. Ralston served as a script supervisor for Willard (1972) and given a writer's credit on all three films.

Where Willard ended - Ben begins... in a pile of dead rats.

This flick is punctuated by unusual compassion between Danny the sick child and Ben the intelligent rat. The main story arc concerns civilized man's outrageous crimes against animals, such as the brutal killing of the rat named Socrates. Modern man's crimes are punished by hoards of beady eyed rats directed to kill by a single intelligent rodent named Ben.

References:
IMDB, Ben (1972)
IMDB, Gilbert Ralston
Wikipedia, Ben (film)
Blackhole, Ben '72

Flicks: Axe (1974)

2010-12-04T00:01:00.004-05:00

Axe-Mess Greetings from another terrible 70's grindhouse movie.

Directed by the legendary exploitation director and producer Harry Novak (Kiss Me Quick! (1964), Mantis In Lace (1968) and Suburban Pagans (1969)) Axe is a Left House On The Left (1972) "themed" film about minor league maniacs receiving a bit of the old poetic justice - in the spirit of Ingmar Bergman's The Virgin Spring and Richard Brooks dynamic script for Capote's In Cold Blood.

References:
IMDB, Harry Novak
Das Kritikon, The Prince of Times Square: Harry Novak
Hot Spot, Video Nasty Blacklisters (UK)

The Sleaze-A-Saurus Rates It:	This Flick Is Available At: