I can’t let this Horrorthon pass without sharing a scene featuring one of my favorite horror movie characters, the Whishmater (Andrew Divoff)!
In the scene, from 1999’s Wishmaster 2, our favorite literal-minded Djinn grants another wish to someone who did not choose his words carefully. Andrew Divoff really makes this scene work. That smile is a thing of terrifying wonders.
It’s not known, for sure, how many people Lonnie David Franklin killed.
A residenct of Los Angeles and a former enlistee of the U.S. Army who was given a dishonorable discharge after doing time in prison for taking part in the gang-rape of a 17 year-old girl in Germany, Franklin was convicted of 10 murders but he was suspected of much more. His earliest known murder was committed in 1984 and he was apparently very active up until 1988. Then, much like the BTK Killer, Franklin appears to have taken a break for nearly two decades before returning to his murderous ways in 2002. (It could be just as likely that Franklin was still killing but his victims were either not discovered or he was never linked to the crimes.) Franklin’s murders didn’t get much attention, with the police not acknowledging that they were dealing with a serial killer until 2007. Some of that can be blamed on the fact that many of Franklin’s murders were committed before DNA testing became a commonplace thing. However, it has also been acknowledged that Franklin escaped detection because he targeted black women and tended to prey on sex workers, neither one of whom were a priority for the LAPD in the 80s.
2014’s The Grim Sleeper stars Dreama Walker as Christine Pelisek, the journalist who first reported on the existence of the Grim Sleeper and Ernie Hudson and Michael O’Neill as the detectives who investigated the murders and ultimately arrested Lonnie Franklin. Franklin (played by James R. Baylis) only appears briefly in the film. As The Grim Sleeper was made before Franklin had actually been convicted and sentenced to death for his crimes, the film does not actually state that the police arrested the right man. Indeed, the film discusses very little about the man who was arrested for the crimes.
Instead, the film focuses on Pelisek and her attempts to get someone to take her seriously when she argues that there’s a serial killer on the loose and that the public has a right to know. At first, everyone is skeptical of her claims. Her editor tells her that she doesn’t have enough for a story. The police tell her to mind her own business. Her fellow reporters order her to get coffee. The only people who really support Pelisek’s attempts to uncover the truth are the families of the victims, some of whom have spent over twenty years waiting for someone to tell them what happened to their loved ones.
The film is at its best when it focuses on the pain of the families, all of whom feel that they have been ignored and forgotten by the people who are supposed to be protecting them. It’s at its least interesting when it focuses on Pelisek and her efforts to be taken seriously. (Deama Walker has given good performances in films like Compliance and Once Upon A Time In Hollywood but she’s miscast here.) Though flawed, the film honors the memories of those victimized by the Grim Sleeper and it reminds viewers that no one should be forgotten.
As for the real Grim Sleeper, he died suddenly while on Death Row. The cause of death has never been released but he died in March of 2020, around the same time that COVID was spreading throughout the nation’s prisons and I’ve always assumed that he was an early fatality. Regardless of the cause, the Sleeper met the Reaper and will never awaken again.
4 Shots From 4 Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films is all about letting the visuals do the talking.
Today’s director is Tod Browning, who started his career during the silent era, ended it in the sound era, and was responsible for some of the most important horror and suspense films of both eras!
4 Shots From 4 Tod Browning Films
West of Zanzibar (1928, dir by Tod Browning, DP: Percy Hilburn)
Dracula (1931, Dir by Tod Browning, DP: Karl Freund)
Freaks (1932, dir by Tod Browning, DP: Merritt Gerstad)
Mark of the Vampire (1935, Dir by Tod Browning, DP: James Wong Howe)
In 1989’s Godzilla vs Biollante, Godzilla returns and gets into a fight with a giant plant named Biollante. Created by mixing plant cells with Godzilla cells and the cells of one human who was killed in a terrorist attack, Biollante has the body of a monster, the head of a giant rose, and the soul of a human. In fact, because her cells were used to help create Biollante, the late Erika Shiragami (Yusko Sawaguchi) can telepathically communicate from inside of Billante.
Now, you might be tempted to laugh at all of that but, silly origin story aside, Biollante is actually a wonderful creation and a fierce competitor to Godzilla. As Biollante was created using DNA that Godzilla left behind during his previous rampage of Tokyo, Godzilla and Biollante have a bit of a mental connection. One could even argue that this film features Godzilla fighting a mutated version of himself. (This was a theme to which many of the future Godzilla films would return.) Biollante is not only capable of wrapping monsters, things, and people in its tendrils but it’s also implied to literally be immortal. Damaging Biollante just causes it to release spores that presumably will lead to the creation of a new Biollante.
How did Biollante come into existence? As usual, it’s all the fault of the government and the corporations. Following Godzilla’s previous rampage in Japan, the government of the Middle Eastern nation of Saradia demanded some of Godzilla’s cells so that they could experiment with creating plant life that could survive in the desert. Meanwhile, an American company called Bio-Major decided that it wanted the cells for itself and they even sent over terrorists to blow up a Saradian lab, leading to the death of Erika and the apparent madness of her father, Dr. Genichiro Shiragami (Koji Takahashi). Dr. Shiragami fused Erika’s cells with the cells of one of the Godzilla plants and Biollatne was created….
Yeah, it doesn’t always make a lot of sense. That’s to be expected of a Godzilla film, though. The important thing is that, no matter how ludicrous the plot, the cast delivers their lines with enough skill and conviction that the viewer is willing to accept what’s being said without worrying too much about the logic behind it. There’s definitely a political subtext here for those who want to find it. Japan once again finds itself saving the world from the mistakes made by America and, this time, the Middle East. For Japan, every Godzilla rampage is a tragedy. For America and the rest of the world, it’s an economic opportunity. Just as the rest of the world reacted to the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by saying, “Cool, we’ve got to figure out how to do that!,” the world reacts to over 30 years of Godzilla-led death and destruction by trying to figure out how to create their own Godzilla.
There’s a lot going on in Godzilla vs Biollante. Psychic Miki Saegusa (Megumi Odaka) makes her first appearance in the Godzilla franchise. There’s a fear assassin named SSS9 (Majot Bedi) who pops up throughout the movie so that he can shoot people. There are scenes of corporate espionage and car chases and action sequences featuring a lot of gunfire. This is one of the more violent and fast-paced Godzilla films that I’ve watched. In the end, though, the main attraction is watching Godzilla battle a giant plant and both Godzilla and Biollante acquit themselves well. It makes for an exciting film, one that feels worthy of starring the King of the Monsters.
Previous Godzilla Reviews:
The 1958 film, The Bride and the Beast, tells the story of newlyweds Dan (Lance Fuller) and Laura Fuller (Charlotte Austin). Dan is an overly macho and chauvinistic big game hunter who is so into hunting and capturing animals that he even keeps a gorilla named Sparky in the basement of his home. I’m not really sure that’s legal and, even if it is, the logistics of keeping a gorilla in your home seem like they would be beyond the capabilities of moron like Dan. Then again, when Sparky gets loose and tries to attack Laura, Dan is forced to shoot him. So, I guess the movie was kind enough to prove my point.
Laura, though grateful to be alive, cannot stop thinking about Sparky and soon, she’s having dreams about her past life as a gorilla. Because Dan doesn’t believe that his wife was once a gorilla, he takes her to the jungles of Africa for their honeymoon. While Dan proves himself to be not quite the ideal romantic husband by keeping himself busy by hunting a killer tiger, Laura finds herself being drawn back to her former existence as the Queen of the Gorillas. Dan may be able to save his camp from the tiger but will he be able to save his wife from the primates that want her for their bride? And will Laura maybe be smart enough to realize that a normal husband would not react to his new bride hatred of hunting for forcing her to go on a safari for her honeymoon? I mean, really, everything that happens in this film is pretty much Dan’s fault. Here’s hoping that Laura divorced him and married a smarter 50s hero. Like maybe Jeff the pilot from Plan 9 From Outer Space. Now that was a man!
This very low-budget film, which is full of stock footage and sets that wobble whenever any of the actors bump into them, has gained some attention in recent years because the script was written by Edward D. Wood, Jr. As such, there’s a scene in which Laura undergoes hypnosis and delivers a monologue about how much she loves her angora sweater. (“It felt like the fur of a small kitten.”) The nonsensical plot and dialogue could only have come from Ed Wood. Unfortunately, Wood himself didn’t direct the film. That job falls to Adrian Weiss and, as a result, the film’s direction doesn’t feature any of the quirky weirdness that one typically associates with a Wood production. The film gets off to a good start, with Dan revealing that he keeps a gorilla in his basement and coming across like some sort of mad scientist but, once the action moves to the jungle, things start to drag as Weiss takes a bland and workmanlike approach to a story that demanded a more imaginative approach.
The film does conclude on an enjoyably odd note, one in which overly macho Dan discovers that it takes more than a rifle and a hunting hat to be king of the jungle. In the end, though, this film is mostly just for Ed Wood completists.
As some of our regular readers undoubtedly know, I am involved in hosting a few weekly live tweets on twitter and occasion ally Mastodon. I host #FridayNightFlix every Friday, I co-host #ScarySocial on Saturday, and I am one of the five hosts of Mastodon’s #MondayActionMovie! Every week, we get together. We watch a movie. We snark our way through it.
Tonight, for #MondayActionMovie, the film will be The Lawnman, which is actually a 2012 film called Safe that has been uploaded to YouTube under a totally different name.
Then, on twitter, #MondayMuggers will be showing 1988’s The Naked Gun, starring Leslie Nielsen! The film is on Prime and it starts at 10 pm et!
It should make for a night of fun viewing and I invite all of you to join in. If you want to join the live tweets, just hop onto Mastodon, pull up The Lawman on YouTube, start the movie at 8 pm et, and use the #MondayActionMovie hashtag! Then switch over to twitter, pull The Naked Gun up on Prime, and use the #MondayMuggers hashtag!
Enjoy!
Leonard Nimoy is a race car driver who can see into the future and who uses his powers to solve crimes!
Seriously, if that’s not enough to get you to watch the 1973 made-for-TV movie Baffled!, then I don’t know what is. In the film, Nimoy takes a break from racing so that he and a parapsychologist (played by Susan Hampshire) can solve the mystery of the visions that Nimoy is having of a woman in a mansion. This movie was meant to serve as a pilot and I guess if the series had been picked up, Nimoy would have had weekly visions. Of course, the movie didn’t lead to a series but Baffled! is still fun in a 70s television sort of way. Thanks to use of what I like to call “slow mo of doom,” a few of Nimoy’s visions are creepy and the whole thing ends with the promise of future adventures that were sadly never to be. And it’s a shame because I’ve always wondered what was going on with that couple at the airport!
(I should mention that this is a personal favorite of mine and, as our longtime readers have probably noticed, I share it every Horrorthon. I’m sharing it earlier than usual this month because, today, I’m having to take my car in to get the driver’s side window repaired. I have no idea how long I’ll be at the shop but I look forward to watching Baffled when I get back!)
Enjoy Baffled! Can you solve the mystery before Leonard?
2002’s The Climb is about two mountain climbers who begin as rivals and end up as friends.
Derrick Williams (Jason George) is an arrogant and cocky climber, the type who enjoys conquering mountains for his own personal glory. (See where this heading?) Even though his girlfriend’s father (Clifton Davis) does not approve of him, Derrick still says that he’s planning on marrying her. Or at least, he does until he finds out that she’s pregnant and he realizes that being a father will require him to take on a lot of new responsibilities.
Michael Harris (Ned Vaughn) is a selfless climber who sees every climb as a team effort and who does everything for the Glory of God. (Again …. see where this heading?)
Businessman Mack (Dabney Coleman, bringing a villainous edge to a character who I don’t necessarily think was meant to come across as being villainous) hires Derrick and Michael to climb a notorious mountain, all as a way to promote his business. At first, Derrick doesn’t want to climb with anyone else but when his girlfriend tells him that she’s pregnant, he decides that he could use some time away from her and promptly heads off to the mountain. Michael, on the other hand, is reluctant to climb because he doesn’t trust Mack’s company to keep all of their promises. Michael feels that climbing the mountain for Mack would be the same as endorsing the company and telling people that the company is an honest company.
You can probably guess what happens. Michael and Derrick climb the mountain. They talk. They bond. They discuss they’re differing views on religion. And then one of them tragically dies and the survivor is forced to reconsider his life. It’s not a surprise when one of them dies because a movie like this can only really work if one of the two friends has tragically passed away before the end credits. And it’s not really a surprise as to who passes away because it’s not like a faith-based movie is going to kill the guy who needs to learn a lesson about taking responsibility and being a father. From the start, it’s obvious who among the two is doomed and, as such, there’s not much suspense to be found in The Climb.
On the plus side — and yes, I realize that I do always go out of my way to find something positive to say about nearly every movie I review but that’s just because I think every movie has something about it that can be appreciated — some of the climbing sequences are visually impressive. It’s obvious that the film’s producers decided to spend a little money on the mountain scenes and, as a result, the scenery is nice to look at. I’m a fan of nice scenery and I’ve sat through more than a few bad films just to see a pretty mountain.
Personally, and this won’t come as a surprise to anyone who knows me, I’ve never felt the need to climb a mountain. If I can see what the top looks like from the ground, that’s enough for me.
First released in 1977 and based on the real-life story of prison activist George Jackson, Brothers opens with David Thomas (Bernie Casey) being charged with robbing a gas station.
Thomas explains that, while he was in the car with the people who robbed the station, he personally had nothing to do with the robbery and did not know that it was going to happen. Thomas’s attorney tells Thomas that the smart thing to do would just be to plead guilty. That way, Thomas will probably just spend a few months in jail as an accessory and then he’ll be a free man. Instead, the judge sentences Thomas to a sentence of one year to life in prison. Essentially, Thomas will be in prison until the State decides to let him out.
Thomas serves his sentence at Mendocino Prison, where he has to deal with threats from both the white prisoners and the guards. Thomas’s cellmate is Walter Nance (Ron O’Neal), a political activist who tells David that he’s “letting your time do you.” Nance educates David, teaching him about both chess and radical politics. Soon, David is publishing an underground newsletter that is discreetly passed around amongst the black prisoners.
Meanwhile, on the outside, David’s younger brother, Josh (Owen Pace), is trying to free David from prison. Josh approaches a radical professor named Paula Jones (Vonetta McGee) and asks for her help in publicizing David’s case. Paula is at first skeptical but, after she reads David’s writings, she starts to correspond with him. Soon, David and Paula have fallen in love. However, when Walter is murdered by the racist guards and David starts to organize within the prison, both David and Paula find themselves being targeted by the government.
As I said at the start of this review, Brothers is based on a true story. David Thomas is based on George Jackson, who was sentenced to a year to life for robbery and who, while serving time in Soledad Penitentiary, wrote two books that made him a cause celebre amongst political radicals in the early 70s. Paula Jones is based on Angela Davis, who was placed on the FBI’s Most Wanted list after a gun registered in her name was used by Jackson’s younger brother during a shoot-out at a courthouse. (The shoot-out, which is depicted in the film, led to the murder of Judge Harold Haley and the deaths of Jonathan Jackson and two prisoners.) George Jackson was later shot and killed while attempting to escape San Quentin. In the film, the fate of David Thomas is just as violent but slightly more poetic.
There’s still a considerable amount of controversy as to whether or not George Jackson was a hardened criminal or an innocent man who was targeted for his activism. Brothers is firmly on the side of George Jackson and Angela Davis, portraying them both as activists who are fighting back against an unjust system that is determined to hold them down and destroy them if necessary. Bernie Casey and Vonetta McGree both give good performances as David Thomas and Paula Jones. Casey, in particular, smolders with an intensity that makes him instantly believable as someone who could organize a rebellion. Unfortunately, the film itself moves a bit too slowly for its own good and it ends on a false note, suggesting that David’s sacrifice has managed to unify both the white and the black prisoners against the guards. Considering that, up until that point, the film had been honest about racism in prison, the ending feels like an attempt to provide some hope to an otherwise downbeat story. Unfortunately, the hope doesn’t feel earned. Still, Brothers is an interesting historical document, one that deals with issues that are still being fought over to this day.
Simon (Andrew Prine) is a bearded man who lives in a storm drain and who says that he is on a quest to become a god. He also says that he’s a warlock and he wants to make sure that everyone understands that there’s a huge difference between being a wizard and being a warlock. Don’t call Simon a wizard!
Simon’s quest for godhood hasn’t led to much success so he makes his living selling trinkets and charms to gullible people. One night, the police arrest him for vagrancy. While sitting in jail, Simon meets Turk (George Paulsin), a gay male prostitute who quickly becomes Simon’s first disciple. With the help of Turk, Simon is introduced to upper class society. It turns out that Turk’s clients include several very wealthy people. Simon is a hit on the party circuit. Slumming hippies view him as a potential guru. Wealthy people view him as a humorous oddity. Simon meets other occultists and starts to engage in bizarre rituals. He finds time to date Linda (Brenda Scott), the daughter of the totally square district attorney. Some people insist that Simon is a fake and some people say he is the real thing. For his part, Simon is soon getting revenge on all of his enemies and taking part in all sorts of freaky ceremonies as he continues his quest for supreme power.
Don’t let the supergroovy name fool you. Like a lot of films about the 60s and 70s counterculture, Simon, King of the Witches is remarkably dull. The action moves slowly. The plot never really makes that much sense. Andrew Prine gives a wonderfully over-the-top performance as Simon but the rest of the cast never really seems to wake up. The film’s most interesting moments are the ones where Simon effortlessly switches from upper class society to “street” society. Undoubtedly, this film’s portrait of jaded people looking for the new thing and getting taken advantage of by a sociopathic grifter felt very familiar in the 70s. And, actually, I guess it still does. There’s still a lot of wannabe gurus out there and a lot of people who have neither the willpower nor the intelligence to see through them. But the film itself just too boring to really be effective. Probably the most interesting thing about the film is that Simon seems to be a mix of Charles Manson and Rasputin. Like Manson, Simon knows how to take advantage of those who are lost and seeking a place where they can belong. And, like Rasputin, Simon turns his sordid lifestyle into an asset when he’s trying to thrill the stuffy old folks.
As I mentioned earlier, the film’s saving grace is Andrew Prine’s intense performance as Simon. Prine himself was an up-and-coming actor with a bright future ahead of him until his girlfriend, Kathryn Kupcinet, was murdered in 1963. As the boyfriend, Prine was immediately a suspect. Though the police quickly cleared him, the scandal still derailed his career and he ended up spending the rest of his career in films like The Town That Dreaded Sundown, Amityville II, and Simon, King of the Witches.
Through the Shattered Lens 