In this episode of The Twilight Zone, Ollie Pope (Edward Andrews) kills a boy in a hit-and-run accident. Ollie tries to cover up the crime and frame an innocent man. His car, however, has a different idea.
This episode originally aired on January 3rd, 1964.
Like many of the films that I’ve reviewed so far this month, Demon Slaughter was included in the Decrepit Crypt of Nightmares box set. I have to admit that the main reason I ended up watching Demon Slaughter was because it was only 62 minutes long. Sometimes, you’re in the mood to watch an epic and sometimes, you’re in the mood to watch something that’s barely an hour long.
Anyway, Demon Slaughter was originally released in 2004 and it tells the story of Jimmy (Adam Berasi), who is some sort of criminal who apparently owes money to a bunch of other criminals. So, naturally, Jimmy goes on a shooting rampage and kills a lot of people. This, of course, leads to Jimmy’s girlfriend being brutally murdered. Jimmy then flees to a cabin where he meets a red-faced demon, deals with a horde of zombies (many of who appear to be smiling as Jimmy shoots at them), and has a vision involving several naked women. After a fairly impressive scene that features someone melting, Jimmy ends up getting into a theological discussion and the film’s final twist is revealed!
The first half of Demon Slaughter didn’t do too much for me. There was nothing supernatural. Instead, it was just people running around with guns, talking tough, and shooting at each other. I imagine everyone had fun filming those scenes (boys always like to do the whole bang! bang! You’re dead! thing) but it was kind of tedious to watch. As well, the sound kept going in and out. I’m not sure if that was a production issue or if it was just a problem with my DVD.
But then, once, Jimmy was in the cabin and shooting at all the zombies, the film got a bit more entertaining. While the special effects weren’t exactly convincing, they did have a definite DIY charm to them. Plus, that melting face was pretty cool!
“THE CAR IS IN THE GARAGE”
— Captain Wade Parent (James Brolin) in The Car (1977)
Yes, that’s right! The car is in the garage and it’s hunting for blood!
The Car is a pretty stupid movie that doesn’t really work but at least it’s enjoyably stupid. From the minute I started watching this movie, I knew that the only way I could recommend it would be if James Brolin shouted, “The car is in the garage!” at some point. When he did, I had to cheer a little. I love being able to recommend a movie.
The Car takes place in the small desert town of Santa Ynez. Nothing much ever seems to happen in Santa Ynez, which perhaps explains why the police force is so large. (Why wouldn’t you want to be a police officer in a town with no crime? It wouldn’t be a very demanding job.) Sheriff Everett Peck (John Marley) keeps the peace and sends his time talking about how much he hates bullies. Wade Parent (James Brolin) is his second-in-command and has a 70s pornstache. Wade’s best friend is Deputy Luke Johnson (Ronny Cox), a recovering alcoholic with impressive sideburns. And then there’s a few dozen other cops. Seriously, this tiny town has a HUGE police force.
One day, however, the police finally get something to do. A black Lincoln Continental has suddenly appeared, stalking the roads around the town. It doesn’t have a licence plate and the windows are tinted a dark red so it’s impossible to see who — if anyone — is driving. Stranger still, the car’s doors have no handles. When the car does show up, it seems to appear out of nowhere and once it’s run someone over, it seems to vanish just as quickly.
When the car first appears, it runs down two cyclists. A few hours later, it kills an obnoxious hippie hitchhiker (John Rubinstein). The only witness was alcoholic wife beater Amos Clements (R.G. Armstrong). When Amos goes to the police, the car tries to run him over as well but instead, it ends up killing Sheriff Peck.
Now, Wade is in charge and he has to do something about the car. Unfortunately, Wade’s girlfriend, Lauren (Kathleen Lloyd), made the mistake of screaming insults at the car when the car attempted to run down the school marching band. Now, the car is stalking her. Meanwhile, Luke is convinced that the car is being driven by none other than devil. Wade says that’s impossible. Luke points out that the car refuses to drive through consecrated ground.
And eventually, the car does show up in the garage…
The Car is one of the stupider of the many Jaws ripoffs that I’ve seen. You’ll be rooting for the car through the entire film, which is good since the car kills nearly everyone in Santa Ynez. (If any of them were likable, The Car wouldn’t as much fun to watch.) It’s dumb but the film does have an appropriately silly ending and James Brolin does get to yell, “The car is in the garage!”
So, there is that.
THE MAN FROM PLANET X is low-budget early sci-fi movie about an alien coming to Earth. The mysterious Planet X is drawing close to our world. Discovered by Professor Elliot (Raymond Bond), Planet X will come closest to the foggy coast of Scotland. Intrepid reporter John Lawrence (cult actor Robert Clarke of THE HIDEOUS SUN DEMON) travels there to meet his old friend, and falls in love with the professor’s daughter Enid (Margaret Field, mother of Sally). A spaceship is found with an alien inside. The professor’s assistant Mears (a very young William Schallert) wants to use the alien for his lightweight metal and get rich. But the alien has other plans, capturing Mears and the Professor, along with some townspeople.
The alien is an advance scout for the coming invasion of Planet X. The Scottish town is cut off from contacting the rest of the Earth as the fiend gets ready to…
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I’ve never actually seen the 1987 film Slaughterhouse Rock. I’ve just seen the trailer included in a few compilations and, thanks to YouTube, I’ve seen the scene below. The only context that I can give for this scene is what I read on Wikipedia.
Apparently, in this scene, a ghost played by the great choreographer Toni Basil does a dance that gives the main character’s spirit the ability to roam free of his physical body. And, during the dance, we see a lot of earlier scenes from the movie. Or something like that. I don’t know. I just like the scene because of the music and Toni Basil.
I’ve always felt that dancing can take you into a spiritual realm of existence. This scene proves my point.
Well, I started out this series featuring a couple of songs I’ve been enjoying for the better part of two decades. Here is one I discovered less than a week ago. It’s not too often that music successfully creeps me out these days, but I suppose I should have known I was in for a treat when Veilburner were described to me as a bad acid trip.
Veilburner are a two-piece band out of the Philadelphia area who just released their first album last year. “Scorched Earth Exorcism” appears on their sophomore follow-up, Noumenon, released this July. (I highly recommend picking up a copy on Bandcamp if this sample track intrigues you.)
“Scorched Earth Exorcism” is a great example of this band’s unique, psychedelic mix of death and black metal. It’s some seriously twisted stuff, and nothing on the album better captures the deranged spirit of the season than the melody that takes over this song around the 4 minute mark. I’ve been watching AMC’s The Walking Dead marathon over the past few days, and I seriously had a dream about hunting zombies with this screwed up tune playing in the background. It was disturbing and awesome.
Every classic comedian worth his bottle of seltzer water made a “scare comedies” or two back in the Golden Age of Hollywood. The following short, YOU’RE NEXT, is a funny 1940 Columbia Pictures effort starring comedy vets Walter Catlett, Monty Collins, Dudley Dickerson, Roscoe Ates and former Keystone Kop Chester Conklin. Directed by Del Lord, here’s YOU’RE NEXT:
Welcome to the latest edition of Lisa Marie’s Favorite Grindhouse and Exploitation Film trailers! Let’s see if we can scare up some frights with these 6 trailers!
1) A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
2) Scanners (1981)
3) I Drink Your Blood (1970)
4) The Crazies (1973)
5) Phantasm (1979)
6) The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
What do you think, Jaded Possum?
Today’s Horror on the Lens comes to use from 1958. It’s entitled I Bury The Living and say whatever you want about the actual film, that’s a great title.
In I Bury The Living, Richard Boone plays Robert Kraft, the newly appointed chairman of a committee that oversees the local cemetery. Through a series of unlikely events, Kraft becomes convinced that, through the use of black and white push-pins, he can control who will live and who will die.
Does Robert really have God-like powers or is something else happening?
Watch below to find out! I Bury The Living is no Dellamorte Dellamore but it’s still an enjoyably over the top piece of cemetery mayhem.
Through the Shattered Lens 