Horror Film Review: I Like Bats (dir by Grzegorz Warchoł)

Posted on October 2, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

In this 1986 Polish film, Katarzyna Walter stars as Iza, a young woman who lives in a small village and who appears to be happy with her quiet life. Despite the efforts of her aunt (Małgorzata Lorentowicz) to set her up with a local bureaucrat (Edwin Petrykat), Iza says that she is happy being single. Even though there’s a “sex murderer” on the loose, Iza still prefers to walk alone at night. She is happy taking care of her bats and making pottery.

Iza, however, has a secret life that not even her aunt knows about. Sometimes, she puts on dark glasses and a brunette wig and she goes to a nearby town. She presents herself as being as prostitute but, once she’s alone with a man, she grabs him, bites his neck, and drinks his blood. Iza is a vampire!

Iza seems quite happy with being a vampire or, at least, she does until she meets Dr. Rudolf Jung (Marek Barbasiewicz), a psychiatrist who visits her aunt’s shop and buys a tea set. Jung is handsome and single and Iza’s aunt thinks that he would be a perfect match for her. For once, Iza agrees. When Iza sees Dr. Jung being interviewed on television about an experimental asylum that he operates out of an ancient castle, Iza goes to the castle and asks to be admitted as a patient. The bemused Jung replies that there are no vacancies. Iza replies that she’s a vampire and she wants Dr. Jung to cure her. Jung, assuming that Iza is merely delusional, take her on as a patient.

Iza proves to be a difficult patient. For one things, she’s immune to hypnotism, which is apparently Dr. Jung’s main technique. Secondly, she doesn’t really seem to want to stop being a vampire. Instead, she just seem to be attracted to Dr. Jung. Why she’s so attracted to Dr. Jung is another question all together. Dr. Jung is a condescending jerk who doesn’t really seem to care about any of his patients. Just as Iza drinks the blood of her victims, Dr. Jung seems to thrive off of the delusions of his patients. The main thing that Jung and Iza have in common is a belief that they were both destined to be forever alone. Dr. Jung explains that he never had room for a wife or a family because he was too busy going to school and making a name for himself. Iza, meanwhile, has always assumed she’ll be alone because she’s a vampire.

(Interestingly, even though the film clearly establishes that Iza is a vampire, none of her victim come back as vampires and she has no problem going out during the day.)

I Like Bats is an intriguing vampire film, one that mixes a creepy atmosphere with a liberal dose of dark humor. The story itself meanders a bit and is not always easy to follow. The motivations of Iza and Jung are often rather unclear. Like a lot of films that were made in Eastern Europe during the period of communist domination, the most interesting thing about the film is the contrast between the beauty of old Europe, with its castles and its green countryside, and the brutal ugliness of the dominant Marxist-Leninist culture. Though I Like Bats is not explicitly political, there’s still a healthy dose of paranoia running through the film, the type of paranoia that goes along with living in or near an authoritarian state.

I Like Bats is not always easy to follow but the dark ending carried a punch and it’s a film that will stick with you.

Horror Film Review: The Godsend (dir by Gabrielle Beaumont)

Posted on October 2, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

In The Godsend, a married couple, Alan and Kate Marlowe (played by Malcolm Stoddard and Cyd Hayman), have a chance meeting with a pregnant stranger (Angela Pleasence). While Alan suspects that there is something wrong with the mysterious woman, Kate insists on allowing her to come have dinner with them. At their rural home, the Stranger spends most of her time glaring at Alan and, when she’s left alone, she cuts the phone line. When the Stranger goes into labor, Alan and Kate deliver her daughter. The next morning, the Stranger has disappeared and Alan and Kate end up taking the baby — now named Bonnie — into their household.

Alan and Kate already have four other children but that soon starts to change. First, baby Matthew is found dead in his crib. As Bonnie grows up, the other children die. Little Davey drowns in a creek and Bonnie is found with scratches on her hands. Davey’s brother Sam says that he is scared to be left alone with Bonnie. Alan and Kate tell him that he’s being silly. Later, Sam is found dead in the barn.

With their neighbors flat-out accusing Alan and Kate of murdering their children and Bonnie doing strange things like attempting to give her father the mumps, Kate starts to have a nervous breakdown. Meanwhile, Alan comes to fear that Bonnie may be the one responsible for the death of the other children and that she may now be targeting that last remaining child, Lucy (Angela Deamer).

First released in 1980 and based on a novel by Bernard Taylor, The Godsend is a British horror film that moves at its own deliberate pace. The action unfolds slowly, with an emphasis on atmosphere and ambiguity. While it certainly seems that Bonnie is responsible for the death of the other children, the first half of the film leaves room for doubt. The viewer is left to wonder whether it’s possible that Alan himself is just being paranoid. As the film progresses, one becomes aware that Bonnie is not only evil but she also has far greater powers than even Alan realizes. The film ends on a properly dark note. There really is no future in England’s dreaming.

The Godsend was a bit too slow. As is so often the case with British horror films from the early 80s, the film was so determined to prove that it was better than the old Hammer bodice rippers that it allowed itself to get a bit too self-serious and stately. That said, The Godsend is also undeniably creepy. Viewers have been conditioned to believe that, no matter what else happens in a film, the children will survive. Even though the children might very well be traumatized for life, it’s still generally accepted that they will somehow manage to make it to the end of the film. The Godsend breaks that unofficial rule and it actually gets a bit depressing to watch. Alan and Kate are going through the worst experience that a parent can can suffer. Alan blames Bonnie while Kate clings to her as being one of the few things that she still has left. It’s a sad movie that captures a very primal fear.

For the most part, the cast does a good if not spectacular job with the material. The best performance comes from Angela Pleasence in the role of The Stranger. Angela Pleasence was the daughter of Donald Pleasence, an actor who will always be best-remembered for playing Dr. Sam Loomis in the original Halloween films. Dr. Loomis would have identified Bonnie as being evil from the start. Unfortunately, no one would have listened to him until it was too late.

Horror Film Review: Teenage Monster (dir by Jacques R. Marquette)

Posted on October 2, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The 1958 film Teenage Monster opens in the late 1800s. Gold prospector Jim Cannon (Jim McCullough) has got a nice little home with his wife, Ruth (Anne Gwynne) and their young son, Charlie. One day, Jim and Charlie are out looking for gold when a meteor falls from the sky and crashes right in front of them. Jim is killed, which I guess is an occupational hazard for anyone who works outside.

(Seriously, you never know when a meteor might crash on top of you. There might be one about to slam into your home right this minute. Read quickly.)

Charlie survives the meteor crash but he’s still bathed in radiation. Ruth takes Charlie home and she keeps him locked up in a back room for his own safety. Seven years pass and Charlie (Gilbert Perkins) is now a teenager. Unfortunately, he’s a very old-looking teenager. Standing nearly seven feet tall, he has long hair and a full beard and he can’t really speak beyond a few grunts. Occasionally, Charlie manages to get out of the back room and Ruth has to look for him. She understands that the 19th Century is no place for a radioactive mutant boy.

When Ruth discovers gold, she’s able to buy a house in town. Unfortunately, living in town means that Charlie notices a young woman named Kathy North (Gloria Castillo). Smitten with her, Charlie kills her jerk of a boyfriend and decides to bring her home. Ruth pays Kathy to keep silent about Charlie but it turns out that Kathy has other plans. Realizing that Charlie is in love with her and will do anything that she commands, she tells him to start killing people around town.

Teenage Monster may seem like an odd title for a western about a boy who gets mutated by a radioactive space rock. Charlie is technically a teenager but he looks like he’s nearly 60. The film uses the radiation as an excuse for Charlie’s rapid aging and his grown spurt. Randomly blaming everything on radiation is one thing that B-movies of the 50s and the 60s definitely all had in common. I suppose if space radiation could have brought the dead back to life in Night of the Living Dead, it could have also transformed Charlie into a teenage monster. As far as B-movies were concerned, J. Robert Oppenheimer had a lot to answer for. Of course, if this movie were made today, Charlie’s transformation would have somehow been due to climate change.

As for the film itself, it’s short and that’s definitely a good thing. The idea of combining B-horror and the old west is an intriguing one but the movie doesn’t really do that much with it. Yes, there are gunmen and deputies but they could have just as easily been modern-era outlaws and lawmen without really changing much about the film. Director Jacques Marquette was a former cinematographer who went into directing so it’s a bit odd that the film has a flat, rather bland look to it. On the plus side, Anne Gwynne gives a better performance than the material deserved.

Keep your kids away from radiation, everyone. Other than cheap, clean energy and countless advances in medicine and science, nothing good ever seems to come from it.

Horror On The Lens: The Horror of Party Beach (dir by Del Tenney)

Posted on October 2, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Everybody do the zombie stomp!

Featuring the music of the Del-Aires, a motorcycle gang led by a guy wearing a beret, teenagers who appear to be in their 30s, and monsters that simply have to be seen to be believed, 1964’s Horror of Party Beach is a true classic. It’s a film as immortal as the cloudy New Jersey sky under which it was filmed.

I always feel bad for Tina (Marilyn Clarke). Tina is a rebel, a force of chaos who has grown tired of being tied down by the rules of conventional society. Perhaps symbolically, she becomes the first victim of the horror of Party Beach and all because she wanted to have some time to herself. It’s a tragedy to which I can relate.

The other thing that I like about this movie is that, even though people are dying left-and-right, it never seems to occur to anyone to just not go to Party Beach. The Del-Aires continue to perform, no matter who dark things may seem. Indeed, I’d argue that the Del-Aires are the true heroes of this film.

For your viewing pleasure, here is The Horror of Party Beach!

Godzilla Film Review: Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (dir by Masaaki Tezuka)

Posted on October 2, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

A direct sequel to Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla, 2002’s Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. begins with the Shobijin, those two little annoying girls who hang out with Mothra, appearing to a Japanese scientist and his family and explaining to them that Godzilla won’t stop attacking Japan until the government does away with their Mechagodzilla, Kiryu. Kiryu was constructed using the bones of the original Godzilla and, as a result, the current Godzilla is drawn to him.

Instead, the Shobijin suggest that the Kiryu should be tossed in the ocean. In return, the latest incarnation of Mothra will serve as Japan’s champion whenever Godzilla attacks.

So, to make clear, Japan can either be protected by a badass cyborg that was created out of the skeletal remains of the original Godzilla or it can be protected by a giant moth that has to spend time in a cocoon before it can even become an effective monster. And, along with the whole cocoon thing, Mothra also comes with two annoying little sidekicks who are constantly popping up and going on and on about how stupid humanity is.

Now, I don’t know about you but, if I was in charge, I would probably just stick with the cyborg. If nothing else, the cyborg looks like a badass and it can destroy just as much property as Godzilla. The cyborg exists to say, “Hey, Godzilla — you’re not the only pointlessly destructive monster on this planet!” Add to that, the cyborg can be piloted and controlled by humans. The cyborg doesn’t talk back. The cyborg doesn’t tell humanity that everything is their fault. The cyborg can be shut down whenever there’s not a monster attack going on. In other words, get lost, Mothra!

In Tokyo S.O.S., The government of Japan agrees with me, which of course leads to a huge fight between Godzilla, Kiryu, and eventually Mothra. Mothra does that thing where she wraps Godzilla up in string and also where she appears to sacrifice her life. The problem is that, after you see enough of these films, you know that Mothra is always going to sacrifice her life and she’s always going to be reborn.

So, the story isn’t that spectacular. It’s pretty much just Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla all over again. But here’s the important thing: the fights are really cool. Yes, the fights are a bit familiar and there’s nothing about them that will really take you by surprise but, if you just want to watch Godzilla destroy stuff, this film delivers plenty of that.

Tokyo S.O.S. is unique amongst the Godzilla films of its era in that it was a direct sequel as opposed to be a reboot. In fact, it was only the direct sequel of the so-called Millennium Era. The next Godzilla film, Godzilla: Final Wars, would be a reboot and a spectacular one at that. We’ll take a look at it next week.

Previous Godzilla Reviews:

Horror Insomnia File #73: Don’t Kill It (dir by Mike Mendez)

Posted on October 2, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

What’s an Insomnia File? You know how some times you just can’t get any sleep and, at about three in the morning, you’ll find yourself watching whatever you can find on cable or streaming? This feature is all about those insomnia-inspired discoveries!

Last night, if you were having trouble getting to sleep, you could have gone to either YouTube or Tubi and watched the 2016 horror film, Don’t Kill It!

Don’t Kill It! takes place in a small Mississippi town. After a hunter shoots his suddenly viscous dog and then murders his wife and children, the hunter is gunned down by another man. That man then proceeds to kill his own family. FBI agent Evelyn Pierce (Kristina Klebe) thinks that it was a case of domestic terrorism. Demon hunter Jebediah Woodley (Dolph Lundgren) disagrees. Woodley explains that there’s a demon on the loose. The demon jumps from host to host. Killing one host means becoming possessed yourself. As Woodley explains it, the only way to avoid becoming possessed is not to kill it but then you run the risk of being killed yourself.

At first, everyone is skeptical of Woodley’s claims. But as Evelyn investigates the case (and we watch a lot of slow motion flashbacks that appear to have been included to pad out the running time), she comes to realize that Woodley is correct. There is a demon and it is possessing people. But how can it be stopped?

Don’t Kill It may be a low-budget film but it gets the most out of that budget, making good use of the country atmosphere of its setting and getting generally good performances from the cast. (The possession scenes are simple but still very well-done and creepy.) The main appeal here is Dolph Lundgren, playing his role with just the right amount of self-awareness to let the viewer know that Lundgren knows exactly what type of film he’s appearing in and that he’s going to do his best to keep things entertaining. It’s a film that’s perfect for late night horror season viewing.

Admittedly, I watched the film with a group of friends, some of whom dropped out during the opening massacre. I could understand their feelings but I think the important thing to consider is, for all the bad things that happened, a hero still showed up to put things right. Indeed, one could argue that the film’s theme of murder leading to more murder is actually a plea for peace. “Don’t kill it!” Woodley says and it’s a message for everyone watching.

Previous Insomnia Files:

Story of Mankind
Stag
Love Is A Gun
Nina Takes A Lover
Black Ice
Frogs For Snakes
Fair Game
From The Hip
Born Killers
Eye For An Eye
Summer Catch
Beyond the Law
Spring Broke
Promise
George Wallace
Kill The Messenger
The Suburbans
Only The Strong
Great Expectations
Casual Sex?
Truth
Insomina
Death Do Us Part
A Star is Born
The Winning Season
Rabbit Run
Remember My Name
The Arrangement
Day of the Animals
Still of The Night
Arsenal
Smooth Talk
The Comedian
The Minus Man
Donnie Brasco
Punchline
Evita
Six: The Mark Unleashed
Disclosure
The Spanish Prisoner
Elektra
Revenge
Legend
Cat Run
The Pyramid
Enter the Ninja
Downhill
Malice
Mystery Date
Zola
Ira & Abby
The Next Karate Kid
A Nightmare on Drug Street
Jud
FTA
Exterminators of the Year 3000
Boris Karloff: The Man Behind The Monster
The Haunting of Helen Walker
True Spirit
Project Kill
Replica
Rollergator
Hillbillys In A Haunted House
Once Upon A Midnight Scary
Girl Lost
Ghosts Can’t Do It
Heist
Mind, Body & Soul
Candy
Shortcut to Happiness
Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders
Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders II

October Positivity: Broken Church (dir by Michaux Muanda)

Posted on October 1, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Eric Roberts is in this film!

That, in itself, is perhaps not a surprise. Roberts, by his own admission, is an actor who will appear in just about any production that is willing to pay him a relatively modest fee. As a result, this Oscar nominee and industry veteran has appeared in a countless number of low-budget movies, many of which would be considered far outside of the Hollywood mainstream. For example, Broken Church, which was released earlier this year, is an evangelical religious film and, hence, about as far outside of the Hollywood mainstream as you can get.

That said, Eric actually gets to a do a bit more than usual in this film. He plays John Parker, the father-in-law of Rev. James Logan (Art Parsells). When the Rev. Logan is released from prison after being wrongfully convicted of embezzling from his church, Logan and his wife, Beverly (Jennifer Adams) move in with Parker. John Parker is running for the U.S. Senate and the last thing he wants or needs bad publicity about his son-in-law. It leads to a tense relationship between Parker and Logan. Luckily, by the end of the film, Logan has become a faith healer (the type who inspires the crippled to toss down their crutches and then run around the churchyard) and this leads to Parker moving up in the polls. The same demon that framed the Rev. Logan also tries to frame Parker but Parker’s too smart to accept any campaign donations from her. In a film that is full of all sorts of implausible plot contrivances, a politician refusing money may be the biggest.

Broken Church is a low-budget film that features a few familiar faces, like Robert and Bill Cobbs and Kevin J. O’Connor. It’s portrayal of a church divided by rumor and accusations will undoubtedly ring true for some, just as its portrayal of politics will leave most people rolling their eyes. John Parker may be running for the Senate but he seems to be spend most of his time hanging out in his suburban home. Where are the campaign aides? Where are the reporters? Why is the phone not ringing nonstop? With his campaign falling apart, Parker goes on vacation with his wife and declares he doesn’t want to hear anything else about the election. That attitude won’t get anyone to the White House!

This is a bit of a silly film, really. But at least Eric Roberts is in more than just one scene.

Previous Eric Roberts Films That We Have Reviewed:

Late Night Retro Television Review: 1st & Ten 1.12 “Not Quite Mr. Right”

Posted on October 1, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Wednesdays, I will be reviewing 1st and Ten, which aired in syndication from 1984 to 1991. The entire series is streaming on Tubi.

Is this season over yet?

Episode 1.12 “Not Quite Mr. Right”

(Dir by Bruce Seth Green, originally aired on February 10th, 1985)

The Bulls are going to the “Championship Game!”

They should be getting ready for the game but instead, everyone’s distracted.

Wide receiver Mace Petty (Marshall R. Teague) has been cast in a movie where he will be co-starring with his favorite actor, Larry the Wonder Dog.

Diana is distracted when a former lover (Dennis Holohan) shows up and starts acting like he wants to get back together.

Denardo is distracted by the networks wanting to mic him up during the big game. Everyone agrees that Denardo curses too much to wear a microphone. Since this episode was edited for syndication, we don’t actually heard Denardo curse but we are assured that he does it.

This episode sucked. Right when the football part of the show finally starts to get interesting, 1st & Ten does an episode that takes everyone off the field. Now, I will add one caveat. On Tubi, it appears that they are largely using episodes that were edited for syndication. As a result, there was so pretty obvious dubbing (especially where Denardo was concerned) and some pretty abrupt jump cuts. So, it’s totally possible that the HBO version of this episode might have been a masterpiece. I doubt it, though.

Next week …. it’s not the Super Bowl. It’s the Championship Game!

Icarus File No. 24: Express to Terror (dir by Dan Curtis)

Posted on October 1, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The year was 1979 and Fred Silverman, the president of NBC, had an idea.

How about a television series in which each week’s episode would depict a different group of passengers going on a trip? The passengers would all be dealing with their own stories, some of which would be dramatic and some of which would be humorous. With any luck, some of them might even fall in love over the course of their journey!

To keep the audience interested, the show would also feature a cast of regular characters, the crew. Edward Andrews would play the captain, a sensible and by-the-book type. Robert Alda played Doc, the doctor who was also a bon vivant. Patrick Collins was the goofy purser. Nita Talbot played Rose, the perky director of entertainment. Michael DeLano was the bartender who always had the best advice for the passengers….

Does this sound familiar?

If you think that it sounds like Fred Silverman just ripped off The Love Boat …. well, you’re wrong. The Love Boat took place on a boat. Supertrain took place on a train.

At the time that Supertrain went into production, it was the most expensive television production of all time. Before the pilot film was even shot, NBC had spent ten million dollars on the Supertrain sets. Not only was a fake train built but two models were also constructed for the shots of the train moving through the countryside. At the time, the assumption was that the costs would be easily covered by the money that NBC stood to make from broadcasting the 1980 Summer Olympics. Unfortunately, Jimmy Carter decided that the U.S. would be boycotting the Olympics as a way to protest Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan. The only thing that kept NBC from going bankrupt was that the BBC was apparently run by someone even more incompetent than Fred Silverman. The BBC paid $25,oo per episode for the rights to air Supertrain in the UK. Supertrain proved to be such a disaster that the BBC never actually aired the episodes that they had purchased.

1979’s Express to Terror was the pilot to Supertrain. (It was later released in some territories as a stand-alone film.) Directed by horror impresario Dan Curtis (who was also brought in to produce the series), Express to Terror opens with an apparently drunk Keenan Wynn playing the role of railway baron Winfield Root. Winfield loudly announces to a group of nervous investors that he has created ” an atom-powered steam turbine machine capable of crossing this country in 36 hours!” A few months later, Supertrain sets off from New York to Los Angeles.

The main thing that one notices about the train is that it’s incredibly tacky. For all the money that Winfield Root (not to mention NBC) poured into the thing, it looks awful. The cabins are bland and also seem to be constantly shaking as the train rumbles over its tracks. Whereas The Love Boat featured glorious shots of passengers enjoying themselves on an open-air deck, Express to Terror features a lot of shots of passengers trying to squeeze their way through narrow and crowded hallways. There’s a disco car, which sounds like fun but actually looks like a prom being held in a locker room. There’s a swimming pool but you can’t really lay out by it because it’s on a train. Winfield is among the passengers and he continually refers to the train as being “Supertrain” in conversation, which just sounds dumb. “The next person who stops Supertrain,” he announces “will be walking to L.A!”

The main drama features Steve Lawrence as Mike Post, a Hollywood agent with a gambling problem who thinks that someone on the train is trying to kill him. Actually, the assassin is after a different Mike Post (Don Stroud) but that Mike Post is a criminal who, after entering the witness protection program, changed his name to Jack Fisk. The criminal Post is hoping that the agent Post will be killed by mistake. The criminal Mike Post has a girlfriend named Cindy (Char Fontane) who falls in love with the agent Mike Post. Fred Williamson appears as a football player-turned-assassin. George Hamilton plays a Hollywood executive. Don Meredith is the alcoholic best friend of the agent Mike Post. Stella Stevens is on the train as a diva. So is Vicki Lawrence, playing a naive innocent.

Express to Terror tries to mix comedy and drama but it doesn’t really work because the “Good” Mike Post doesn’t really seem to be worth all the trouble. Steve Lawrence gives a mind-numbingly bad performance in the role and, as a result, “Good” Mike Post really isn’t any more sympathetic than “Bad” Mike Post. The main problem is that “Good” Mike Post comes across as being a coward and there’s only so much time that you can watch a coward act cowardly before you lose sympathy for him. Being scared is one thing. Being so dumb that accidentally gets your fingerprints on a knife that’s just been used to kill a man is another thing.

As for the members of the crew — the captain, the doctor, the bartender, and such, they take a back seat to the drama of the two Mike Posts. It’s a bit odd because no one on the train — not even Winfield Root — seems to be that upset by the fact that one of their passengers is murdered while the train is going through a tunnel. You would think that everyone would be worried about the future of Supertrain at that point. A murder is not good for publicity but Winfield Root is oddly unconcerned about it. I swear, light rail people are almost as heartless as bicyclists!

Of course, the worst thing about Express to Terror is that it promises terror but it doesn’t deliver. When I see a the word “terror” in a film directed by Dan Curtis, I expect a little terror! Other than Steve Lawrence’s overacting, there really wasn’t anything particularly terrifying about Express to Terror.

As for Supertrain, it ran for nine episodes and was promptly canceled. Fred Silverman left NBC and spent the rest of his career as an independent producer. Supertrain’s tracks got too close to the sun and they nearly took down a network.

Previous Icarus Files:

The Unnominated #20: The Ninth Configuration (dir by William Peter Blatty)

Posted on October 1, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Though the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences claim that the Oscars honor the best of the year, we all know that there are always worthy films and performances that end up getting overlooked. Sometimes, it’s because the competition too fierce. Sometimes, it’s because the film itself was too controversial. Often, it’s just a case of a film’s quality not being fully recognized until years after its initial released. This series of reviews takes a look at the films and performances that should have been nominated but were, for whatever reason, overlooked. These are the Unnominated.

Some films defy easy description and that’s certainly the case with 1980’s The Ninth Configuration.

The film opens with a shot of a castle sitting atop of a fog-shrouded mountain. A voice over tells us that, in the early 70s, the castle was used by the U.S. government to house military personnel who were suffering from mental illness. Inside the castle, the patients appear to be left to their own devices. Lt. Reno (Jason Miller) is trying to teach dog how to perform Shakespeare. Astronaut Billy Cutshaw (Scott Wilson) is haunted by the thought of being alone in space and refuses to reveal why he, at the last minute, refused to go to the moon. The men are watched over by weary and somewhat sinister-look guards, who are played by actors like Joe Spinell and Neville Brand.

Colonel Kane (Stacy Keach) shows up as the new commandant of the the castle. From the first minute that we see Kane, we get the feeling that there might be something off about him. Though he says that his main concern is to help the patients, the man himself seems to be holding back secrets of his own. With the help of Colonel Fell (Ed Flanders, giving an excellent performance), Kane gets to know the patients and the guards. (Despite the objections of the guards, Kane says that his office must always be unlocked and open to anyone who want to see him.) He takes a special interest in Cutsaw and the two frequently debate the existence of God. The formerly religious Cutshaw believes the universe is empty and that leaving Earth means being alone. Kane disagrees and promises that, should he die, he will send proof of the afterlife. At night, though, Kane is haunted by dreams of a soldier who went on a murderous rampage in Vietnam.

The film start out as a broad comedy, with Keach’s smoldering intensity being matched with things like Jason Miller trying to get the dogs to perform Hamlet. As things progress, the film becomes a seriously and thoughtful meditation on belief and faith, with characters like Kane, Billy, and Colonel Fell revealing themselves to be quite different from who the viewer originally assumed them to be. By the time Kane and Cutshaw meet a group of villainous bikers (including Richard Lynch), the film becomes a horror film as we learn what one character is truly capable of doing. The film then ends with a simple and emotional scene, one that is so well-done that it’ll bring tears to the eyes of those who are willing to stick with the entire movie.

Considering all of the tonal shifts, it’s not surprising that the Hollywood studios didn’t know what to make of The Ninth Configuration. The film was written and directed by William Peter Blatty, the man who wrote the novel and the script for The Exorcist. (The Ninth Configuration was itself based on a novel that Blatty wrote before The Exorcist.) By most reports, the studio execs to whom Blatty pitched the project were hoping for another work of shocking horror. Instead, what they got was an enigmatic meditation on belief and redemption. The Ninth Configuration had the same themes as The Exorcist but it dealt with them far differently. (Because he wrote genre fiction, it’s often overlooked that Blatty was one of the best Catholic writers of his time.) In the end, Blatty ended up funding and producing the film himself. That allowed him complete creative control and it also allowed him to make a truly unique and thought-provoking film.

The Ninth Configuration was probably too weird for the Academy. Though it received some Golden Globe nomination, The Ninth Configuration was ignored by the Oscars. Admittedly, 1980 was a strong year and it’s hard to really look at the films that were nominated for Best Picture and say, “That one should be dropped.” Still, one can very much argue that both Blatty’s script and the atmospheric cinematography were unfairly snubbed. As well, it’s a shame that there was no room for either Stacy Keach or Scott Wilson amongst the acting nominee. Keach, to date, has never received an Oscar nomination. Scott Wilson died in 2018, beloved from film lovers but never nominated by the Academy. Both of them give career-best performances in The Ninth Configuration and it’s a shame that there apparently wasn’t any room to honor either one of them.

The Ninth Configuration is not a film for everyone but, if you have the patience, it’s an unforgettable viewing experience.