Produced eight years after the landmark PSYCHO (see Fango
Flashback here),
1968’s psychological thriller PRETTY POISON almost plays, in its opening
moments, like a dry run for star Anthony Perkins’ later work in PSYCHO II. A
disturbed young man, fresh from a long stint in a mental hospital, meets with
his parole officer (SECONDS’ John Randolph) to discuss his re-entry into
society after serving time for some unspeakable crime.
Read more...
They say a film is made or broken in the editing room, and
that’s well-illustrated by SAVAGE WEEKEND’s opening scene of unrelated shots
arranged without continuity or narrative. Accompanying these images is an
old-time banjo tune that starts and stops intermittently, with the occasional
chainsaw noise dubbed over top of it.
Having failed to make any kind of impression upon its
initial release, the 1973 thriller THE BABY would be just another forgotten
movie if it wasn’t so very, very odd. The director, Ted Post, was best-known
for helming mediocre second installments of two famous franchises, namely
BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE APES and MAGNUM FORCE, the first sequel to DIRTY
HARRY.
A few weeks back, I was searching for rare
horror titles at Los Angeles’ Amoeba Music (for those of you who have
never been there, I highly recommend a visit; it’s a treasure trove of rare and
unusual cult films). On this particular trip, I happened upon ALUCARDA. How had
I missed this title? I’m a sucker for nunsploitation and a die-hard fan of
weird ’60s and ’70s psychedelia. So ALUCARDA (a.k.a. SISTERS OF SATAN) was
pretty much a mental and visual gift.