EVIL BRAIN FROM OUTER SPACE (1956)

Directed by Koreyoshi & Akira Mitsuwa

Written by Akira Mitsuwa & Ichiro Miyagawa

Starring Ken Utsui, Junko Ikeuchi & Minoru Takada

The evil genius Balazar, from the planet Zemar has become a living brain bent on the conquest of the universe. His first stop is Earth and the only one who can stop him is Starman (Ken Utsui).  Created by the Emerald Planet, Starman is made of unbreakable metal and with his Globe-Meter he can fly through space, detect radiation and speak and understand any language. Add to the fact that he is invulnerable to any damage and Balazar has his hands pretty full.

EVIL BRAIN FROM OUTER SPACE began life as the final three SUPER GIANT films from Japan; THE SPACE MUTANT APPEARS, THE DEVIL’S INCARNATION & THE POISON MOTH KINGDOM. The total running time of the three films was 159 minutes and they are edited down into one, incomprehensible mess of 78 minutes for this feature.

Reflecting the attitude of American serials of the 40’s there is a lot of fight scenes and men in tights. Even the bad guys wear spandex. Black, of course, to offset Starman’s white costume. It is odd that when he’s not Starman he wears a black suit and the bad guys wear white trench coats. Kind of a Yin Yang thing I guess.

There are some odd monsters that are veiny and weird looking from the waist up and then spandex from the waist down. Spandex, I might add, that could have benefited from the actor wearing some sort of undergarment. These pants are too tight and show more than we should have to endure in a superhero flick. Starman also seems to have this particular wardrobe malfunction, but, if you believe the hype, they did this on purpose to make him more attractive to the ladies.

Whatever. Yeesh!

A hat’s off to whomever the insane editor was who could make this into a feature at all. Characters show up and disappear at the drop of a hat. And, after a while, you think the bad guys would just stop wasting the bullets. They know he’s bulletproof, but they continue to blast Starman at every opportunity.

I did think it was funny that when the movie was over, it was just over. Starman bid farewell and headed back to The Emerald Planet to get away from us. The evil brain is melted and he is out of there.

Of the three Starman movies, I think this one for its pure insanity remains my favorite. 

RETURN OF THE KUNG FU DRAGON (1976)

Directed by Chick Lim Yu
Written by Lee Gee-Sun
Starring Sun Kuan, Rin Feng, Chang Li, Sing Chen, Lee Chung-Gian, Yu-chiao Szema and Tsai Hon

RETURN OF THE KUNG FU DRAGON is a classic tale of revenge. There is an evil man who goes to The Golden City on Phoenix Island to wrest control of the kingdom from the good emperor and rule The Golden City. The three generals that protect the island are defeated, but not before the princess is whisked away to the old man on the mountain who places an impenetrable fog around the base of the island for nineteen years.
Flash forward nineteen years and all the children of the generals have grown and are ready for the appearance of the princess to lead them to victory against the evil emperor.
This is a standard Kung-Fu epic. There is lots of posed fighting and it always sounds like someone is hitting a plastic couch with a broom handle. While there is nothing special about the film there were a few things I really did enjoy.
One of the daughters of the generals always stamped her feet when fighting. Some bizarre kind of Horse style of Kung-Fu.
The evil emperor has a magician with a long flowing white beard that he can actually use in a fight. The beard has a mind of its own and can punch people. I wish my beard knew how to fight. That would be cool.
Finally, the evil emperor. He had his go to move. whenever someone told him some important news he would give a hearty laugh and then slap the taste out of someone's mouth.
These things made it more of a fun flick, but still pretty standard fare after sitting through about a hundred of these things.
Now, for the weird part. The original name of the movie is Ju Ma Pao, it is a Taiwanese film and if you do a standard IMDB search you come up with the film as far as director and stars and all, but the synopsis is for Sonny Chiba's RETURN OF THE STREET FIGHTER. Weird
One last thing. I have always found people of Eastern descent in films to be quite attractive. Probably the whole exotic thing, but this movie has just some of the homeliest people to every grace a film frame. There is the good wizard's tiny henchman who looks like a troll and is wearing no makeup. A couple of the women are alright, but so many of them just have this horse face that makes you wince when they do the classic zoom in shot with the dramatic music that fills this genre of film. Just not attractive.
Blech.

Finally, if you're bored, go ahead and watch for yourself;

  

ETERNAL EVIL (1985)

I didn't want to show you a movie poster of this one. It gives the illusion that the movie might be good.

Directed by George Mihalka
Written by Robert Geoffrian
Starring Winston Rekert, Karen Black, John Novak, Patty Talbot, Vlasta Vrana and Andrew Bednarski

Paul Sharpe (Winston Rekert) directs commercials. He did do a movie, The Wandering Soul, but that was his last film and it has been seven years. The basic premise of his film was that of Astral Projection. He really likes Astral Projection and runs into a woman, Janus (Karen Black) who shows him how easy it is. The opening of the film is actually him travelling to his father in law's house where he upsets the dog.  His son, Matthew (Andrew Bednarski) wakes him from the state before anything...interesting occurs.
The rest of the film follows Paul on his day; shooting commercials, visiting his shrink, you know, typical stuff. Well, except for when his shrink is murdered. His insides look scrambled and every rib in his chest is broken. Paul sees this in his astral state, but it isn't registering as real for him. When they go to visit his father in law, the dog attacks Paul.
Eventually the father in law is murdered, Matthew is forced to drink paint thinner and Paul's wife is also dead. It seems that Paul is killing people with his mind.
Or is he?
I have to tell you that when I saw director George Milhalka's name on the credits I was excited. He directed MY BLOODY VALENTINE and  PINBALL SUMMER, two of my favorite films of all time. So, this was going to be amazing. A guy who kills people in his astral form.
This was going to be so cool!
Only, it wasn't.
The entire soundtrack sounds like the bastard child of Miami Vice. Karen Black is wasted in this role. Even when she gets the opportunity to go over the top it is too little too late. The entire film is bloodless, unlike VALENTINE and boobless, unlike PINBALL. The whole thing just comes across as...dull.
Most of the footage is too dark and unwatchable. Even the day scenes could have used a little extra light. I'm not sure what happened here, but you know that when the climax of the film is about to begin and all will be revealed and I nod off and awaken in time to see the ending credits, you know this is one boring film.
Yes, as a professional, I did go back and see what I missed. I discovered that it wasn't much and the twist at the end wasn't much of a twist.
In the scheme of a two hundred movie set, one really bad one is bound to occur. I have actually allowed for about 20 of them to just stink on ice, but this one might have to count for three or four of them.
Just. So. Bad.

BLOOD MANIA (1970)

Directed by Robert O’Neil

Written by Peter Carpenter, Tony Crechales & Toby Sacher

Starring Peter Carpenter, Maria De Aragon, Vicki Peters, Reagan Wilson, Jacqueline Dalya, Leslie Simms, Eric Allison, Arell Blanton, Alex Rocco & Reid ‘Chip’ Smith

Ridgeley Waterman (Eric Allison) is dying. Bound to his bed by a debilitating illness he relies on the ministrations of his daughter, Victoria (Maria De Aragon, who is most famous for playing Greedo in Star Wars, but I really liked her in WONDER WOMEN (1973)). His protégé Dr. Craig Cooper (Peter Carpenter) checks up on him and makes sure that Nurse Turner (Leslie Simms) keeps Ridgeley away from the brandy.

Unfortunately, for Dr. Cooper he has a dark secret. During medical school he did some abortions and now a blackmailer (Arell Blanton, who’s character doesn’t have a name, but he manages to bring his sleazy A game to the table.) has him by the short and curlies for 50 large.

Luckily, Victoria has a thing for Dr. Cooper and wants him for herself. After seducing him she realizes that if she kills Daddy with an amyl nitrate that all of his money will be hers and she can give him the money to stave off the blackmailer.

The deed is done and the lawyer (Alex Rocco playing it as sweaty as possible in his short screen time) arrives with the will. The will and Ridgeley’s other daughter, Gail (Vicki Peters) (Insert dramatic music here).

Victoria isn’t worried. She is the one that took care of her father. She is entitled, right? Yeah, except Daddy has a few secrets of his own and one of those involves getting all rapey with Gail so with that kind of guilt he naturally gives Gail all the money.

Victoria snaps and is placed under sedation.

Now Dr. Cooper has to seduce the other sister to get his blood money, but something unexpected happens; he falls in love. I would like to mention at this point that Dr. Cooper did start the film with a gorgeous girlfriend, Cheryl (Reagan Wilson) who was willing to give herself to the blackmailer to help out. It didn’t work, but her heart was in the right place. Cheryl gets swept under the rug pretty quick. Poor Cheryl.

Victoria appears to have recovered from her violent tendencies and they send the nurse home and leave her bedroom door unlocked. After all, what could happen? She has made nice with her sister. Everything is warm and fuzzy. Right?

It takes Victoria about five minutes to locate a really heavy lamp and pummel Gail to death. Dr, Cooper suspects something is rotten at the Waterman estate and heads over in time to discover the body. In a panic he hides the body and starts to piece together a plausible alibi.

That’s when Victoria screams. He looks to the door and sees the dead body of Gail standing there. She falls to reveal the blackmailer and Dr. Cooper, realizing what this means snaps. His mind gone his gaze is one of madness as the screen freeze frames.

BLOOD MANIA is a blueprint for every erotic thriller ever shown on Cinemax. It has gorgeous settings, lots of nudity, a sinister sub plot and terrible acting. It’s on the scale of an R rated soap opera.

Now, the director knows his exploitation stuff. Responsible for both ANGEL films (You know, Honor Student by day Hooker by night) and it shows here with the material. The execution though comes across as arty farty. Some of the camera work is fine, but some of it appears very posed and stilted. I’m not too surprised as there are two cinematographers for this; Gary Graver and Bob Maxwell. Some is shot very natural, I would give those shots to Graver and then the weird camera angles and posed situations are probably Maxwell’s. Of course, I could be completely wrong, but I doubt it.

BLOOD MANIA still works. Sure, the clothes are dated as is the dialogue, but the basic plot still plays for the fan of the erotic thriller.

I do find it funny that the lead villainess, Victoria has become famous for a part where we can’t even see her. As Greedo we don’t even hear her voice, but because of the Star Wars phenomenon she has become very popular.

The one I feel sorry for here is Peter Carpenter. IN only four films, starting with Russ Meyer’s VIXEN! BLOOD MANIA is his third film. One of two that he helped write as well. A decent looking fella with rugged good looks, Carpenter collapsed from a cerebral hemorrhage. I imagine he would have had a long career in film and to be cut short so soon is a shame. Plus, the ending shot of this film shows he could play crazy. He would have been really good at crazy.

In the end BLOOD MANIA trail blazed the way for uncountable erotic thrillers, showed us what Greedo looks like naked and gave us Alex Rocco at his sweatiest. Bravo BLOOD MANIA! Job well done.

EXTRA SPECIAL EXTRA PART!

I have the honor of being an acquaintance of Gary Kent. Gary Kent is a stuntman, director, actor, writer. You name it and he has probably done it better than you. He also wrote this awesome book called Shadows & Light that you can buy HERE.

Anyway, I saw that he was the production manager for this film so I picked his brain a little and he answered my inane questions.

Thanks, Gary!

What was your role in Blood Mania?

On this film, the mgt of, and directing of the film, were difficult, as the budgets were low . We had some great people on crew, though, guys like cinematographers Gary Graver and Bob Maxwell, etc. I some ways, I miss those days where you just got a camera, a couple of friends, and just went out and got it done!!!

Peter Carpenter seemed like one of those talented people that was taken too soon. What are your memories of him?

Peter Carpenter was a very nice guy. Very good looking, sure of himself...he had many ventures going besides film , and was on the phone a lot talking to his various endeavors and their minions. He was always in a good mood, had a dynamite girl-friend, joked with the crew, thanked everyone at day's end...

Vicki Peters (Gail in the film) comes across as the epitome of stupid blonde in the film. What was she like in real life?

I do not remember Vickie well, except that she was also a nice person, very polite and not a diva in any sense. Kept to herself and a friend or two most of the shoot.

Alex Rocco as the lawyer seemed to be trying to get as much attention as possible in the movie and played it super sweaty even though no one else in the scene was perspiring. What was he like on the film?

Alex has always seemed a  bit full of himself to me...and this proves it...enough said?

Finally, do you have any personal remembrances from the making of the film? It comes across as the blueprint of the erotic thriller that used to be the mainstay of Cinemax late night.

This film helped spawn the career of Director Robert O'Niel...I had worked several Richard Rush films with him as a prop man/set-dresser, me as a stuntman...suddenly he was directing, and as I was doing some production managing at the time, he asked me to join him on his films...it was a great relationship, and we are friends to this day. He was just down here in Austin, where they showed some of his other films at the Alamo. Good times were discussed over dinner and drinks.

DEATH FORCE (A.K.A. FIGHTING MAD) (1978)

Directed by Cirio H. Santiago
Written by Howard R. Cohen
Starring James Iglehart, Carmen Argenziano, Leon Issac Kennedy, Jayne Kennedy, Joe Mari Avellana, Joonee Gambona and Vic Diaz

Doug Russell (James Iglehart), Morelli (Carmen Argenziano) and McGee (Leon Issac Kennedy, billed as Leon Issac) are three Vietnam Vets riding home from the war on a cargo plane full of caskets. In a pit stop in the Phillipines they unload a coffin full of gold and sell it to a local warlord (Vic Diaz). On the boat ride back to the city, Morelli and McGee do a little math and decide that money splits better in half. They stab Russell and throw him in the ocean.
But, Doug Russell is tough. Really tough. He washes up on a little island inhabited by two relics from World War 2. One is a soldier (Joonee Gambona) and the other is a samurai (Joe Mari Avellana). They save Doug and teach him the way of the samurai.
Meanwhile, Morelli and McGee are taking over the crime in Los Angeles and McGee is putting the moves on Doug's woman, Maria (Jayne Kennedy). Maria is more interested in her singing career and taking care of her little boy than anything McGee has to offer.
Meanwhile, on the island, the old man falls in an accident and dies. Soon after a small squad of soldiers come on the island and take Doug with them. The samurai stays hidden. He knows the world is no longer what he remembers and hides from the squad of men. Well, after he kills two of them. They never address that in the movie. Hmmmm.
So, now Doug is back in town and cutting a bloody swath through the gangs of LA. He fights the gangs of Chinatown, the Italian mob. He keeps getting closer and closer to the two men that left him for dead.
DEATH FORCE is a classic piece of action. You have the hero screwed over and coming back for revenge. James Iglehart is a beast of a man, probably well know for BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS and BAMBOO GODS AND IRON MEN. The sword in his hands looks puny, but he does manage to put it to good use.
I put both posters at the top because, well I think I might be ticked off if I went to see the first one. It makes it appear as another Leon Issac Kennedy/Jayne Kennedy vehicle where they get together and have to fight against oppression...or whatever.
Yeah, she is Iglehart's woman in this flick and Leon is a vile, evil man in this one. The second poster is a little closer to home.
The movie is surprising because, for the most part, it is relatively bloodless. It kind of lulls you into that mindset and then the final battle in Mexico comes where Doug storms McGee's hideout. There is arterial spray, decapitations that send the heads flying in a bloody arc through the air. It throws you off guard and makes for a better movie.
This is, as I said before, classic action with everything that comes from that.
Can't go wrong with some classic 70's action.
I also like that the lead character is named Doug. Us Doug's don't get too many of those.

NIGHTMARE IN WAX (1969)

Directed by Bud Townsend
Written by Rex Carlton
Starring Cameron Mitchell, Lawrence Tierney, Bud Cardos, Anne Helm, Berry Kroeger and Victoria Carroll

The film opens on a close up of Cameron Mitchell's eye that becomes the scene of the movie. As make up man Vincent Renard, Mitchell is wooing leading lady Marie Morgan (Anne Helm) from producer Max Black (Berry Kroeger). They are all at a Hollywood party and when Vincent goes to light a cigarette, Max throws a drink in his face setting him alight, scarring his face horribly and causes him to lose an eye.
Shattered, hideous, Vincent starts a wax museum using his skills to make the most life like wax models ever seen before.
One little secret.
Vincent actually came up with a paralyzing drug filled with nutrients that keeps people immobile and healthy for long periods of time. Just because Max got away with disfiguring him and losing his woman doesn't mean he hasn't been scheming on how to destroy Max.
Unfortunately, he has been so consumed with jealousy that the police are getting suspicious. Vincent gets regular visits from Detectives Haskell (Lawrence Tierney) and Carver (Bud Cardos). He tries to throw them off the trail by blaming Max who is after the insurance money. This sort of backfires when he uses Theresa (Victoria Carroll) to lure Max to his workshop where he can inject Max with the serum to make him a mindless, immobile slave. He has to kill Theresa, but not before he torments her with a mad chase through the wax museum.
NIGHTMARE IN WAX is really an opportunity to watch Cameron Mitchell do what he does best, chew the scenery. There are times his true acting ability shines in this bizarre film, but he's stuck in a part that has been done before and done better. The scarred madman who kills to make his wax figures a reality.
Between Vincent Price in HOUSE OF WAX and Lionell Atwill in MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM, what chance does Cameron Mitchell have?
I did give his character credit in that he keeps his victims alive, but it led to a question;
Wouldn't the people age? And even though the injections give the necessary nutrients and vitamins for survival, isn't there still body waste of some kind? Did he outfit them all with a Depends? And whose job is it changing those?  Might have been less complicated just killing them. Worked for Lionell and Vincent.
I just now got that Cameron Mitchell's character was named 'Vincent'. Clever.
NIGHTMARE IN WAX is an interesting addition to the psycho in a wax museum sub genre, but the ending comes across as a monumental cheat...unless you take the title literally.

TERRIFIED (1963)

Directed by Lew Landers
Written by Richard Bernstein
Starring Rod Lauren, Steve Drexel, Tracy Olsen, Stephen Roberts and Denver Pyle

The movie opens with a long shot of a small, old west town, then it dissolves to a graveyard and then a man walks over a grave where a man is lying in a grave tied up. The bad guy is wearing a suit and tie and a mask that gives him a Diabolik feel. He starts to fill the grave with cement and the young man in the grave snaps. In black and white, this scene is super creepy and if I had seen it as a kid I'm sure it would have scarred me for life. As it is now it still does a good job of the creeps.
Cinematographer Curt Fetters spent his life shooting TV with this being his only film. I think he wanted to pull out all the stops and make this something worth watching.
It is.
After the opening scene we get an older couple that is almost run off the road by a crazy man. They pull into a little bar where the owner, Wesley Blake (Stephen Roberts, an actor with over a hundred credits under his belt.) offers them a drink to calm their nerves. It's there that we get the love triangle of Marge (Tracy Olsen of JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF TIME), Cool guy Ken (Rod Lauren, of THE CRAWLING HAND fame ) who wants Marge for his own and David (Steve Drexel, who got more to do in SWAMP GIRL), who is moody and in college and writing a paper on people surviving terror.
Marge decides she wants to go out to the abandoned old west town to talk to the town drunk. Ken doesn't miss a beat and offers to take her to talk to him. David is not in the mood as the guy at the beginning of the film was a friend of his and he is now in an asylum.
When they get there they find the old drunk dead, gruesomely impaled on the graveyard fence. David shows up and the man in the mask is back to torment and torture him. After escaping from multiple death traps David discovers he must see if his mind can stand being...TERRIFIED! (Yeah, that was cheesy, but it made me laugh.)
I'm not going to reveal the man in the mask as it would ruin the film for people who may have not found this little black and white gem.
There is some genuinely good acting in this little potboiler and some that I can't mention because it would ruin the ending. If you watch it just remember some of the final lines of the masked man after he is unmasked. A couple of them are just heartbreaking.
One of those movies that when it ends and the good guys win and the bad guys die you find yourself a little sad because of it.