The TSL Horror Grindhouse: Abby (dir by William Girdler)

Posted on October 14, 2023 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Some films are a hundred times more entertaining than they have any right to be and that’s certainly the case with 1974’s Abby.

A blaxploitation take on The Exorcist and Rosemary’s Baby, Abby opens with Bishop Garrett Williams (William Marshall, star of Blacula) taking a peaceful stroll with his students at seminary. Garrett talks about how he will miss them all when he is off on archeological dig in Nigeria. One of his students asks him some questions about Eshu, one of the spirits of the Yoruba religion. Bishop Williams explains that Eshu is a trickster and a force of chaos and carnal excess. Yes, the Bishop explains, he does believe that demons are real.

And indeed, no sooner has the Bishop gone to Nigeria and opened up a small puzzle box adorned with the symbols of Eshu than a demon claiming to be Eshu travels from Africa to Louisville, Kentucky. Louisville is the new home of the Bishop’s son, Reverend Emmett Williams (Terry Carter). Reverend Williams is a good and god-fearing man and his new wife, Abby (Carol Speed), is a devout Christian who sings in the choir, speaks out against drugs, and never curses. That changes, however, once the demon claiming to be Eshu gets inside of her. Soon, Abby is speaking in a very deep voice, laughing at inappropriate moments, demanding constant sex, and plunging a knife into her arm. When the now possessed Abby disappears into the sordid nightlife of Louisville, Reverend Williams and his brother-in-law, Det. Cass Potter (Austin Stoker), try to find her. Eventually, Bishop Williams joins them in their search, knowing that even if they find Abby, it will fall to him to perform the exorcism to save her life and soul.

Abby has so much in common with The Exorcist that Warner Bros. actually ended up suing the film’s producers and distributor for plagiarism. That lawsuit is one reason why it’s not particularly easy to see Abby today. Indeed, I had to resort to watching a washed-out upload on YouTube. Of course, Abby was hardly the first or the last film to rip off The Exorcist. Almost every horror released in the wake of William Friedkin’s classic shocker owes something to The Exorcist. Abby, however, was one of the more finanically successful rip-offs of the film, or at least it was until the lawsuit led to it being removed from theaters. It’s unfortunate that Abby is so difficult to see because it’s actually one of the more entertaining Exorcist rip-offs out there.

A lot of that is due to the confrontation between the dignified and stately William Marshall and the far more hyperactive Carol Speed. Carol Speed gives a performance of amazing energy, whether she’s happily cackling after a woman drops dead of a heart attack or if she’s kicking her husband in the groin. Carol Speed holds nothing back and basically tears through every scene like a force of uncontrollable nature. She provides the perfect counterbalance to Marshall’s more measured performance as the Bishop. Marshall delivers his lines with such authority and conviction that the viewer has no doubt he could probably scare the devil out of everyone. Carol Speed, meanwhile, is so good at playing wild that the viewer wonders how, even if they can get Eshu out of here, Abby will ever be able to go back to being a demure preacher’s wife. Setting Marshall and Speed loose in the seedy nightclubs of Loiusville leads to an occasionally horrific, occasionally silly, but always entertaining between good and evil.

Abby is an entertaining horror film. It’s just unfortunate that we will probably never get to see a good print of it. But then again, maybe that’s for the best. The graininess of the version that I saw actually added to the experience of watching the film. It made me feel like I was in some small theater in the middle of nowhere, watching a print of the film that had taken a long and difficult journey just so it could be seen and appreciated.

Horror On The Lens: Time Walker (dir by Tom Kennedy)

Posted on October 4, 2016 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today’s horror on the lens is 1982’s Time Walker!

Time Walker tells the story of what happens when a mummy that’s actually an alien awakens on a college campus. As you might guess, mayhem and bad fashion choices ensue. To be honest, Time Walker is not the best horror film ever made. In fact, it’s actually pretty bad. However, it is definitely a time capsule of the era in which it was produced and it has one of those WTF endings that you kind of have to see for yourself.

Enjoy!

Back to School #15: Horror High (dir by Larry N. Stouffer)

Posted on August 26, 2014 by Lisa Marie Bowman

So, you knew when I started this series of Back to School reviews that I would eventually end up reviewing a horror film or two. Whether it’s because they were written and directed by people still bitter over being teenage outcasts or because they were produced by people who were smart enough to realize that a lot of horror fans are still students, several horror films have been set in the world in high school.

Take, for instance, the 1974 film, Horror High.

Horror High tells the story of Vernon Potts (Pat Cardi), who is the smartest student at his high school. However, it’s debatable how much of an accomplishment that is because, in this low-budget film, it appears that there’s only 6 or 8 students at the school. Regardless, Vernon’s combination of intelligence, acne, and social awkwardness have come together to make him the school outcast. Not only do Vernon’s fellow classmates make fun of him but the janitor threatens to kill him, the football coach orders him to help the team cheat, and his English teacher destroys Vernon’s biology homework. Vernon’s only friend is a guinea pig named Mr. Mumps. Vernon eventually gives Mr. Mumps an experimental serum that turns Mr. Mumps into a murderous monster. Unfortunately, the janitor subsequently kills the guinea pig but, in the process, he also forces Vernon to drink the serum, which leads to Vernon occasionally turning into a monster himself. On the bright side, Vernon does eventually get to date the girl he has a crush on, largely because she’s single now that Monster Vernon has killed her boyfriend…

Horror High is one of those low-budget films that is so extremely odd that it can’t help but have an oddly dreamlike power to it. This is one of those cases where the total lack of narrative logic actually works to the film’s advantage. Pat Cardi makes for a believable outcast and everyone else in the cast is properly despicable. As ludicrous as the plot may be, the film itself is full of a palpable atmosphere of dread and doom. I’ve seen a lot of bad high schools in a lot of low-budget horror films but it’s hard for me to think of one that was quite as nightmarish as the one in Horror High.

Incidentally, Horror High was filmed in my home state of Texas, in the wonderful city of Irving!

And you can watch it below!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAjFFtZY3NE

Scenes I Love: Assault on Precinct 13

Posted on June 10, 2011 by Arleigh

I think by now both fellow writers for the site and those who frequent said site know of my love for all and everything John Carpenter. I consider him one of the most underappreciated American filmmakers. All his films contribute something even those where one wonders if he has lost his mojo (I’m looking at you Ghosts of Mars). One of his very first films and one that still resonate with many of his fans is the low-budget and modern remake of Howard Hawk’s Rio Bravo. The latest “Scenes I Love” come from this remake which was called Assault on Precinct 13.

This was a film made for just $100,000 and while the low-budget shows it doesn’t stop Carpenter from creating a grindhouse classic. One of my favorite scenes in this film is the scene chosen. It’s very close to the beginning of the film as a violent street gang called the Street Thunder has vowed a blood vendetta against the LAPD and the citizens of LA. The scene in question show just how far these gangbangers were willing to go with their vendetta.

There’s always been several cardinal rules of grindhouse filmmaker and this scene definitely stays true to the notion that nothing is off-llimits. Carpenter shows just how much he understands this rule. In mainstream films children are oft put in danger but never to the point that they actually die on-screen. There’s always some adult to save them in the end and give the film a happy Hollywood ending. Carpenter doesn’t care for that and this scene proves just how much he doesn’t.

The first time I saw this scene I was surprised, shocked and left speechless. Carpenter had the stones to kill that young girl (and a blond in pigtails at that) with her ice cream cone right on the screen. From that moment on I knew I was in for a ride and I wouldn’t know whether Carpenter would take it easy on his audience or just continue to mess with them. This scene begins a chain reaction of why I love Carpenter films and will continue to love his past, present and future work.