Stelvio Cipriani – born 20th August 1937, in Rome – is an Italian composer, mostly of movie soundtracks, many of which were for genre films, including, horror, gialli thrillers and crime films. Cipriani is still active, performing both live and recorded works, his output totalling over 200 scores. He has occasionally worked using the pseudonym Steve Powder.

Cipriani grew up in a decidedly un-musical household, the catalyst for expressing his musical talent actually coming from hearing the local church organ. The priest encouraged this interest and alerted his family to his passion and quick progress in learning to both read music and play keyboards. Although he covered all bases by initially becoming an accountant after school, he had followed the more traditional path for Italian composers and had enrolled at a Santa Cecilia music conservatory aged fourteen, studying piano and harmony. At this stage, it had become the pattern among many Italian composers for film to have specialised in either classical or jazz before finding their true calling. Bucking this trend, more contemporary sounds appealed to Cipriani, joining small bands to play venues from local ballrooms to cruise ships. On a break in New York during the latter period, Cipriani met and played for Dave Brubeck, the legendary band leader. Cipriani returned to Italy to be pianist to emerging pop singer, Rita Pavone.

Aged 29, he composed his first score, the spaghetti western El Precio de un Hombre (The Bounty Killer, 1966, a breezy affair which had all the trademarks of a Euro Western score and was likeable if not ground-breaking. During this early period working in the film industry, Cipriani composed for a variety of film styles and directors; of particular note are the erotic thriller Femina Ridens (The Laughing Woman, 1969); the early Jose Larraz film, Whirlpool; Radley Metzger’s The Lickerish Quartet (all 1970), before his output took a slightly darker direction from 1971 onwards.

Even at this time, the likes of Ennio Morricone and Bruno Nicolai dominated the Italian film industry when it came to music, though Cipriani was able to compete, not only because of his deft touch with melody and rather more light-hearted tone to many of his scores (his contemporaries had often strayed nearer to experimentalism or jazz before even thinking of incorporating ‘modern’ sounds) but also because he stuck to the composers’ code – he was willing to compose for any kind of film, regardless of subject matter or lack of quality. In fact, Cipriani’s style was closer to Americans such as Henry Mancini than many of his fellow countrymen.

Cipriani’s lush, almost outrageously suggestive score to Riccardo Freda’s giallo, L’iguana Dalla Lingua di Fuoco (The Iguana With the Tongue of Fire, 1971) is typical of his work in this period – a broad spectrum of instruments from piano to oboe, breathy, wordless female vocals – by Nora Orlandi, herself an excellent composer – and flashes of both tea-spilling stingers and punchy pop moments. Such scores had brought him to the attention of one of the masters of Italian horror cinema, Mario Bava; the pair combining on his early slasher, A Bay of Blood (1971), Baron Blood (1972, too experimental for American distributors, AIP, who replaced him with Les Baxter for their home release) and Rabid Dogs (1974). It has been suggested that his score for Bay of Blood was originally intended for The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave, eventually scored by Bruno Nicolai.

Such an association did little to slow down the pace of Cipriani’s assignments; his score to Death Walks on High Heels is in some senses the quintessential gialli score, initially flighty and breathy, lulling the audience into a false sense of security before angular dissonance signals the end of child-like frivolity and it’s black gloves and stabbing to the fore. A milestone in Cipriani’s canon is his towering score to Roberto Infacelli’s The Great Kidnapping (La Polizia Sta a Guardare, 1973), the descending chords of the melody being reused several times over the years, most notably on the nearly-Hollywood blockbuster, Tentacles (1977). Plagiarism of oneself is not mentioned in the rulebook.

His reputation as being an easy composer to work with made him in demand throughout the 1970s and into the 80s, aided by his willingness to adopt new techniques; like other younger composers such as fellow Italians Franco Micalizzi, the de Angelis brothers or Bixio, Frizzi and Tempera, Cipriani readily embraced modern production, using synthesizers and guitars, as well as disco and rock, as time progressed. Although his output was not always of the very highest order, landmarks such as the taut, thrilling score to What Have They Done to Your Daughters? (1974) allowing you to forgive the slight misfires of The Great Alligator (1979) and the fun but daft, Papaya: Love Goddess of the Cannibals (Nico Fidenco was clearly unavailable!)

An oddity in his output is Bloodstained Shadow (1979), a score which was written by Cipriani but was actually performed by Goblin, a contractual issue neither party had any control over. This arrangement was repeated, with Goblin founder and keyboardist Claudio Simonetti performing on 1979’s Ring of Darkness. Hollywood did call, although half-heartedly; Tentacles was no Jaws and Piranha II: The Spawning (1981, under the guise of Steve Powder) remains famous only as mega director James Cameron’s debut effort. Bizarrely, Cipriani composed scores to no fewer than three films about the mysteries surrounding the Bermuda triangle.

Other horror-related works include Umberto Lenzi’s Nightmare City (1980), 1982’s Pieces, Joe D’Amato’s Orgasmo Nero (1980) and superior giallo, The House of the Yellow Carpet (1983). Cipriani continues to work in film and television (mostly in Italy) but has found many new fans due to his work being sampled by the likes of Necro and the use of cues from his older scores finding their way into Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof and to great effect in Larry David’s TV comedy, Curb Your Enthusiasm

Selected Discography

1966 – The Bounty Killer

1969 – The Laughing Woman (aka The Frightened Woman)

1970 – Whirlpool

1970 – The Anonymous Venetian (winner of the silver ribbon awarded by the Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists)

1970 – The Lickerish Quartet

1971 – The Lonely Violent Beach

1971 – Human Cobras

1971 – The Iguana With the Tongue of Fire

1971 – A Bay of Blood

1971 – Blindman

1971 – Death Walks on High Heels

1971 – Deviation

1972 – Execution Squad

1972 – Baron Blood

1972 – Return of Halleluja

1972 – Night Hair Child

1973 – The Great Kidnapping

1974 – Emergency Squad

1974 – What Have They Done to Your Daughters?

1974 – Rabid Dogs

1975 – Evil Eye

1974 – Death Will Have Your Eyes

1975 – The Night Child

1975 – Mark the Narc

1975 – Frankenstein all’Italiana

1976 – Colt 38 Special Squad

1976 – Deported Women of the SS Special Section

1977 – Tentacles

1977 – Stunt Squad

1978 – The Bermuda Triangle

1978 – Skin ’em Alive

1978 – Cave of the Sharks

1978 – Papaya: Love Goddess of the Cannibals

1978 – Bloodstained Shadow (composed by Cipriani, performed by Goblin)

1979 – Concorde Affaire 1979

1979 – Encounters of the Deep

1979 – Ring of Darkness

1979 – The Great Alligator

1980 – Orgasmo Nero

1980 – Nightmare City

1981 – Piranha 2: The Spawning

1982 – Don’t Look in the Attic

1982 – Pieces

1983 – The House of the Yellow Carpet

1987 – Beaks – The Movie

1988 – Taxi Killer

1991 – Voices From Beyond

Daz Lawrence

‘There is everything to look forward to… except tomorrow’

End of the World is a 1977 American science fiction horror disaster film produced by Charles Band and directed by John Hayes (Dream No Evil; Garden of the Dead; Grave of the Vampire) from a screenplay by Frank Ray Perilli (Mansion of the Doomed; Laserblast; Zoltan, Hound of Dracula). It was released a month before Close Encounters of the Third Kind and is now in the public domain.

The film stars Sue Lyon (Lolita; Crash!; The Astral Factor), Kirk Scott (Heathers), Dean Jagger (Evil Town; So Sad About Gloria; Alligator), Lew Ayres, Macdonald Carey, Liz Ross, Jon Van Ness. Christopher Lee is top-billed but appears for just a few minutes.

Plot teaser:

Professor Andrew Boran (Kirk Scott) is a research scientist who discovers strange radio signals in space that appear to originate from the Earth. The signals seem to predict natural disasters occurring around the globe.

When he and his wife (Sue Lyon) decide to investigate the source of the signals, they end up being held captive in a convent that’s been infiltrated by aliens. These invaders plan to destroy the world with the natural disasters. As the human, Father Pergado and alien leader Zindar (Christopher Lee) explain – the Earth is a hotbed of disease that cannot be permitted to continue polluting the galaxy…

Reviews:

‘End of the World is truly forgettable and isn’t really worth it even for the most hardcore of B-Movie fans. I had hoped for a better introduction into Charles Band’s 1970s output, but this one was sorely lacking. That being said, the final ten minutes or so are pretty enjoyable, so if you must, try to only see that section. Unless you suffer from insomnia…’ Silver Emulsion Film Reviews

‘For very long stretches End of the World is merely boring, betraying the promise of that somewhat spectacular diner scene. It’s really Perilli who saves the day by taking his writing to a special level of bad. It is bad both as concept and as dialogue. It is such science as Ed Wood would have laughed out of the room. Sir Christopher Lee is shamelessly straight-faced while uttering it all in the guise of an emotionless alien.’ Mondo 70: A Wild World of Cinema

‘The pacing is incredibly dull and even when the aliens are introduced, still not very much happens. To its credit, the same plot, minus the convent angle and with the addition of a whole lot more coherence, also served as the basis of the much better The Arrival (1996). Through it all, Christopher Lee plays with customary booming gravitas and gives an entirely silly role far more than it deserves. Joel Goldsmith, the son of celebrated, Oscar-winning composer Jerry, delivers a score made up of early electronics.’ Moria

Buy Empire of the ‘B’s from Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Cast:

• Christopher Lee as Father Pergado / Zindar
• Sue Lyon as Sylvia Boran
• Kirk Scott as Prof. Andrew Boran
• Dean Jagger as Ray Collins
• Lew Ayres as Cmdr. Joseph Beckerman
• Macdonald Carey as John Davis
• Liz Ross as Sister Patrizia
• Jon Van Ness as Mr. Sanchez

Wikipedia | IMDb | Internet Archive

‘250 pounds of maniacal fury’

Criminally Insane – also known as Crazy Fat Ethel – is a 1975 US horror film written and directed by Nick Millard as Nick Philips (Satan’s Black Wedding; Doctor Bloodbath; Dracula in Vegas; The Turn of the Screw).

The film was followed by a belated 1987 sequel entitled Criminally Insane 2, and an upcoming remake titled Crazy Fat Ethel.

Plot teaser:

The morbidly obese Ethel Janowski (institutionalised due to her bouts of paranoia, depression, and violence) is released into the care of her grandmother, despite Doctor Gerard’s unease regarding Ethel’s discharge. Upon moving into her grandmother’s San Francisco home, Ethel begins consuming massive amounts of food, and repeatedly claims that the employees of the institution were trying to starve her to death. In an attempt to stop Ethel’s gorging, Mrs. Janowski empties the refrigerator, and locks the cupboards. Ethel and her grandmother argue, and when the elder Janowski threatens to call the sanitarium, Ethel impales her with a knife, then mutilates the old woman’s hand to get the cabinet key she was holding in a death grip.

Ethel locks her grandmother’s corpse in a bedroom, and places an order for more food. When the delivery boy arrives with the groceries, Ethel is unable to pay for them, and stabs the deliverer with a broken bottle when he tries to leave with the order. After Ethel moves the boy’s body, her prostitute sister, Rosalie, arrives, and announces that she will staying for a while. Ethel ignores calls from her doctor, and attempts to cover up the odour of her decaying victims when Rosalie complains about the smell coming from the locked bedroom…

Buy on DVD with Satan’s Black Wedding from Amazon.co.uk

Reviews:

‘Oh Lord, you’ve GOT to love Criminally Insane. This unfettered freak show of a fright flick, starring the world’s portliest serial killer (yes, even bigger than John Wayne Gacy and Leatherface, combined) is so downright depraved, so tantalizing in its turgid storytelling and squalid scenarios that words cannot begin to describe its baneful beauty…’ Bill Gibron, DVD Talk

‘This flick is deserving of its title—it is absolutely crazy. The plot is paper-thin, reading something like “the fat girl gets pissed and starts killing people,” but that’s part of the charm, its minimalism.’ DVD Verdict

Cast:

• Priscilla Alden as Ethel Janowski
• Michael Flood as John
• Jane Lambert as Mrs. Janowski
• Robert Copple
• George Buck Flower as Detective Sergeant McDonough
• Ginna Martine as Mrs. Kendley
• Cliff McDonald as Doctor Gerard
• Charles Egan as Drunk Man
• Sonny La Rocca
• Sandra Shotwell as Nurse
• Lisa Farros as Rosalie Janowski

Choice dialogue:

“Did you smell upstairs? Did grandma shit all over her bed before she left?”

“You need a good beating every once in a while a while. All women do. And you especially. Ok?”

Key words:

bacon | cleaver | crazy | doctor | fat | gore | Jewish | knife | morbidly obese | murder | overweight | prostitute| San Francisco | telephone

Wikipedia | IMDb | Image thanks to Bruce Holecheck’s Cinema Arcana

Buio Omega – aka Beyond the Darkness, Buried Alive and Blue Holocaust – is a 1979 Italian horror/exploitation film directed by Joe D’Amato [Aristide Massacessi] from a screenplay by Ottavio Fabbri based on a storyline by Giacomo Guerrini.

The film stars Kieran Canter, Cinzia Monreale (The Beyond; The Sweet House of Horrors; The Stendhal Syndrome), Franca Stoppi (The Other Hell), Sam Modesto, Anna Cardini and Lucia D’Elia. The score is by Goblin (credited as The Goblins).

The film remains controversial in many countries, even today, notably Australia, where it has been banned since 1992 due to very high impact violence throughout. Buio Omega remains banned in several other countries to this day although a quick internet search means you can watch it fully uncut online.

Plot teaser:

On a luxurious estate in the Italian countryside, Francesco mourns his deceased lover. Soon pain and loss turn to madness and violence, as this troubled young man decides he cannot part with his love just yet. Excavating her corpse, he preserves her body with excruciating attention to detail. That, however, is only the beginning. Soon he is overcome with rage, murdering innocent young women and anyone else who infringes on the privacy of his estate…

It has been rumoured that D’Amato used actual cadavers in some of the autopsy scenes and during the attack on the hitchhiker. The presence of pretty obvious prosthetics makes this highly unlikely. A goregrind metal band named themselves after the film.

Buy Beyond the Darkness on DVD from Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Reviews:

‘Despite a couple of mis-steps here and there, D’Amato’s movie is capped off with a nifty little shock moment that is a fitting end to an already intriguing, lunch launching little movie. Beyond the Darkness is still a strong feature all these years later and a shining, if highly repugnant example of extreme Italian horror.’ Cool Ass Cinema

‘Despite its shortcomings, Beyond the Darkness has some truly classic scenes that could potentially stick in the viewer’s mind forever. A must for all fans of Italian horror cinema, Beyond the Darkness could well be D’Amato’s best movie.’ The Spinning Image

‘Unfortunately, Massacessi’s approach is cheaply realist, trying to shock by unimaginatively filming butchery and cruelty. The potential poetry of a mad, necrophiliac passion that animates, for instance, Bava’s Lisa e il Diavolo (1972) is kept at bay by the crudely exploitative approach…’ Phil Hardy (editor), The Aurum Film Encyclopedia

‘Beyond the Darkness is a great movie; gory, kinky and surreal in a way that only D’Amato could deliver it. His cinematography leaves nothing to complain about, he knows what he wants from his compositions and that’s what we get. Ornella Micheli’s editing is perfect once again, and then there’s that excellent soundtrack by Goblin, that constantly keeps the movie moving along with their progressive rhythms … although not as violent and aggressive as Anthropophagus: or Absurd is possibly Joe D’Amato’s finest hour as a horror director.’ CiNEZiLLA

Also Known As:

Wikipedia | IMDb | Image thanks: Wrong Side of the Art

WH

The Enfield Monster refers to reports of an unidentified creature around Enfield, Illinois, United States in April 1973. The reports were covered by the news media at the time, with some suggesting they may have been caused by a wild ape or escaped kangaroo.

Used as a case study for a paper on social contagion in 1978, sociologists cite the episode as an example of collective behavior where a group or crowd can be affected by the spread of “group emotions” such as “panics, hysterias, collective visions, and extreme instances of suggestibility.”

Reports of the Monster:

At about 9:30 on the night of April 25, 1973, Henry McDaniel heard a scratching sound at his front door. He looked out, and saw something that he thought might be a bear. Taking a gun and flashlight, he headed outside into a strong wind and saw a creature between two rosebushes. He later said “It had three legs on it, a short body, two little short arms, and two pink eyes as big as flashlights. It stood four and a half feet tall and was grayish-colored.” He added later that it was “almost like a human body”.

McDaniel fired four shots at the creature, one shot hitting it and causing it to make a hiss “much like a wildcat’s”, before fleeing towards a nearby railway embankment, covering 50 feet in three jumps. McDaniel called the local authorities who discovered footprints in the soft earth near the house, which McDaniel described as dog-like in shape, with six toe pads. The police considered McDaniel to be “rational and sober” in his reporting of the incident. In a later press interview, McDaniel said “If they do find it, they will find more than one and they won’t be from this planet, I can tell you that.”

Investigators interviewing nearby residents were told that Greg Garrett, a ten-year-old neighbor of McDaniel, claimed to have encountered the creature half an hour before McDaniel did, and that the creature had stepped on his feet, tearing his tennis shoes to shreds. The boy later told Western Illinois University researchers that his report was a hoax “to tease Mr. M and have fun with an out of town newsman.”

Two weeks later on May 6, McDaniel called the radio station WWKI claiming to have seen the creature again, at 3am that morning. It was negotiating the trestles of the railroad tracks near his home, and McDaniel said “I saw something moving out on the railroad track and there it stood. I didn’t shoot at it or anything. It started on down the railroad track. It wasn’t in a hurry or anything.”

A search party including WWKI’s news director Rick Rainbow explored the area later that day, and reported observing an “apelike” creature standing in an abandoned building near McDaniel’s house.They claimed to have made a recording of the creature’s cries, and fired a shot at it before it fled. Cryptozoologist Loren Coleman investigated the case and the sound recording.

Two days later, a day after McDaniel was interviewed on local radio, the local press reported that police were called to investigate reports of gunfire, and arrested five young men from out of town who had come to Enfield in order to photograph the creature, carrying shotguns and rifles “for protection”, the men having claimed to have sighted the creature. The White County sheriff dismissed reports of this as a “monster hunting expedition” as an exaggeration, saying that the men were just “out drinking and raising hell”, mentioning the monster only briefly during questioning. The men were charged with hunting violations.

It was suggested that the creature may have been a kangaroo escaped from a nearby zoo, which would explain the “three legs” description as the tails of kangaroos look like a third leg. McDaniel was adamant that the creature “wasn’t no kangaroo”, having owned such a creature as a pet while on military service in Australia, and noting that kangaroos have narrow faces and tracks that leave claw marks. Following media coverage of the creature, an Ohio man contacted a local newspaper stating that the creature may have been his pet kangaroo, Macey, which had been lost or stolen a year previously.

A few days after the event, United Press International quoted an anthropology student who suggested that the creature may have been a wild ape, noting that such animals had been reported throughout the Mississippi area since 1941.

Wikipedia

I Sanguinari (“The Blood”) is an Italian fumetti ‘adults-only’ comic book first published in 1972 by Milan-based Edifumetto, the company that also issued Orror; Sukia; Ulula and Wallestein, il mostro.

Initially, the I Sanguinari comic books featured Storie di delitti e di crudelta’ (“Stories of Crimes and Cruelty”), however issue 10 introduced a new focus: Storie di mostri e di vampiri (“Stories of Monsters and Vampires”) presumably because horror was perceived to be a bigger selling theme than crime. And frankly, who’d want to read about crime and cruelty in early ’70s Italy? So, violent erotic fantasy escapism aimed at a – possibly misogynistic? – male audience became the lifeblood of I Sanguinari…

Related: Orror | Sukia | Ulula | Wallestein, il mostro

The Enfield Poltergeist was the name given to claims of poltergeist activity at a council house in Brimsdown, Enfield, England during the late 1970s. Although psychical researchers such as Maurice Grosse and Guy Lyon Playfair declared some of the phenomena genuine, the case is generally considered to be a hoax by skeptics.

In August 1977, single parent Peggy Hodgson called police to her rented home in Enfield after two of her four children claimed that furniture was moving and knocking sounds were heard on walls. The children included Margaret, age 13, Janet, age 11, Johnny, age 10 and Billy, age 7. A female police constable saw a chair slide on the floor but couldn’t determine if it moved by itself or was pushed by someone. Later claims included allegedly demonic voices, loud noises, thrown rocks and toys, overturned chairs and levitation of children.

Reports of further incidents in the house attracted considerable press attention and the story was covered in British newspapers such as the Daily Mail and Daily Mirror, until reports came to an end in 1979. On Halloween 2011, BBC News featured comments from a radio interview with photographer Graham Morris, who claimed that a considerable portion of the events were genuine.

Society for Psychical Research members Maurice Grosse and Guy Lyon Playfair reported “curious whistling and barking noises coming from Janet’s general direction.” Although Playfair maintained the haunting was genuine and wrote in his later book This House is Haunted: The True Story of a Poltergeist (1980) that an “entity” was to blame for the disturbances, he often doubted the children’s veracity and wondered if they were playing tricks and exaggerating.

Still, Grosse and Playfair believed that even though some of the alleged poltergeist activity was faked by the girls, other incidents were genuine. Janet was detected in trickery. A video camera in the room next door caught her bending spoons and attempting to bend an iron bar. Grosse had observed Janet banging a broom handle on the ceiling and hiding his tape-recorder.

When Janet and Margaret admitted their pranking to reporters, Grosse and Playfair compelled the girls to retract their confession. They were mocked by other researchers for being easily duped.

Buy This House is Haunted from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

The psychical researcher Renée Haynes had noted that doubts were raised about the alleged poltergeist voice at the Second International SPR Conference at Cambridge in 1978, where video cassettes from the case were examined. The SPR investigator Anita Gregory stated the Enfield poltergeist case had been “overrated”, characterizing several episodes of the girl’s behavior as “suspicious” and speculated that the girls had “staged” some incidents for the benefit of reporters seeking a sensational story. John Beloff a former president of the SPR investigated and suggested Janet was practicing ventriloquism. Both Beloff and Gregory came to the conclusion that Janet and Margaret were playing tricks on the investigators.

American paranormal investigator Ed Warren claimed that Janet was once “sound asleep, levitating in midair” and concluded that the children were the subject of demonic possession.

In a television interview for BBC Scotland, Janet was observed to gain attention by waving her hand, and then putting her hand in front of her mouth while a claimed “disembodied” voice was heard. During the interview both girls were asked the question “How does it feel to be haunted by a poltergeist?” Janet replied “It’s not haunting” and Margaret interrupted “Shut up”. These factors have been regarded by skeptics as evidence against the case.

Skeptics have also noted that the alleged poltergeist voice that originated from Janet was produced by false vocal cords above the larynx and had the phraseology and vocabulary of a child. Maurice Grosse made tape recordings of Janet, and believed that there was no trickery involved, but the magician Bob Couttie has written, “he made some of the recordings available to me and, having listened to them very carefully, I came to the conclusion that there was nothing in what I had heard that was beyond the capabilities of an imaginative teenager.”

Skeptic Joe Nickell has criticized paranormal investigators for being overly credulous: when a supposedly disembodied demonic voice was heard, Playfair noted that, “as always Janet’s lips hardly seemed to be moving.” Nickell wrote that a tape recorder malfunction that Grosse attributed to supernatural activity and Society for Psychical Research president David Fontana described as an occurrence “which appeared to defy the laws of mechanics” was merely a peculiar threading jam common to older model reel to reel tape recorders.

Nickell states that a remote-controlled still camera (the photographer was not present in the room with the girls) timed to take a picture every 15 seconds that supposedly “recorded poltergeist activity on moving film for the first time” was shown by investigator Melvin Harris to reveal the girls’ pranks. A photo allegedly depicting Janet “levitating” in mid air actually shows her bouncing on the bed as if it were a trampoline. Harris called the photos examples of common “gymnastics,” and said “It’s worth remembering that Janet was a school sports champion!” Nickell also wrote that demonologist Ed Warren was “notorious for exaggerating and even making up incidents in such cases, often transforming a “haunting” case into one of “demonic possession.” In an interview with the Daily Mail, the adult Janet admitted that she and her sister had faked “2 percent” of the phenomena, prompting Nickell to comment, “the evidence suggests that this figure is closer to 100 percent.”

Nickell noted that the supposed poltergeist “tended to act only when it was not being watched” and concluded that the incidents were best explained as children’s pranks. According to Nickell:

“Time and again in other ‘poltergeist’ outbreaks, witnesses have reported an object leaping from its resting place supposedly on its own, when it is likely that the perpetrator had secretly obtained the object sometime earlier and waited for an opportunity to fling it, even from outside the room—thus supposedly proving he or she was innocent.”

American magician Milbourne Christopher investigated, failed to observe anything that could be called paranormal, and was dismayed by what he felt was suspicious activity on the part of Janet. Christopher would later conclude that “the poltergeist was nothing more than the antics of a little girl who wanted to cause trouble and who was very, very, clever.”

In 2015, Deborah Hyde commented that there was no solid evidence for the Enfield poltergeist “the first thing to note is that the occurrences didn’t happen under controlled circumstances. People frequently see what they expect to see, their senses being organised and shaped by their prior experiences and beliefs.”

Popular Culture:

• In 1992, the BBC aired a mockumentary entitled, written by Steven Volk and based on the Enfield Poltergeist.
• In March 2007, Channel 4 aired a documentary about the Enfield poltergeist, entitled Interview with a Poltergeist.
• The Enfield poltergeist has been featured in episodes of ITV series Strange But True? and Extreme Ghost Stories.
• The Enfield poltergeist was the subject of the 2015 Sky Living television series The Enfield Haunting which was broadcast on the 3rd of May 2015, and the 2016 US theatrical horror film The Conjuring 2: The Enfield Poltergeist.

Wikipedia

Scooby Doo, Where Are You! was the first incarnation of the long-running Hanna-Barbera Saturday morning cartoon series, Scooby-Doo. Created by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears, the cartoon premiered on CBS September 13, 1969, and ran for two seasons for a total of twenty-five episodes. The punctuation-sensitive will note the early episodes utilise neither a question mark nor a hyphen in the title!

Scooby Doo, Where Are You! was the result of CBS and Hanna-Barbera’s plans to create a non-violent Saturday morning program that would appease the parent watch groups that had protested the superhero-based programs of the mid-1960s. Originally titled Mysteries Five (after the band the featured teenagers were a member of), and later Who’s S-S-Scared?, Scooby Doo, Where Are You! underwent a number of changes from script to screen, the most notable of which was the downplaying of the musical group angle borrowed from The Archie Show. However, the basic concept — four teenagers (Fred, Daphne, Velma, and Shaggy) and a cowardly, clumsy Great Dane (Scooby-Doo) solving supernatural-related mysteries — was always in place.

Scooby-Doo creators Joe Ruby and Ken Spears served as the story supervisors on the series. Ruby, Spears, and Bill Lutz wrote all of the scripts for the first-season episodes, while Lutz, Larz Bourne, and Tom Dagenais wrote the second season episodes with Ruby and Spears. Ruby and Spears had already had an animated TV hit with Space Ghost, a show which had a similar style of animation, as well as monsters, ‘mild peril’ and a theremin-heavy soundtrack – the programme’s musical director, Ted Nichols, composed the intended theme for Scooby Doo, Where Are You! though ultimately this was only used for the fleeting still title card sequence. Dagenais and Larz had also written off-kilter cartoons such as Wacky Races, whilst Lutz had written several episodes of the live-action hit series, The Addams Family.

The plot varied little from episode to episode. The main concept was as follows:

1. The Mystery, Inc. gang is driving in the Mystery Machine, their psychedelically-painted van, returning from or going to a regular teenage function, when their van develops engine trouble or breaks down for any of a variety of reasons (overheating, flat tire, out of gas, etc.), in the immediate vicinity of a large, mostly vacated property (ski lodge, hotel, factory, mansion, cruise ship, etc.).

2. The gang’s (unintended) destination turns out to be suffering from a monster problem (ghosts, Yeti, vampires, witches, etc.); they volunteer to investigate the case.

3. The gang splits up to cover more ground, with Fred and Velma finding clues, Daphne finding danger, and Shaggy and Scooby finding food, fun, and the ghost/monster, who chases them. Scooby and Shaggy love to eat, including dog treats called Scooby Snacks which are a favourite of both the dog and the teenage boy. Casey Kasem, a staunch vegetarian and the voice of Shaggy, objected to the mass consumption of meat products in the show and insisted this stopped. This argument rumbled on in one form or another for the next 35 years!

4. Eventually, enough clues are found to convince the gang that the ghost/monster is a fake, and a trap is set (usually by Fred) to capture it; or, they may occasionally call the local sheriff, only to get stopped by the villain half-way.

5. If a trap is used, it may or may not work (more often than not, Scooby-Doo and/or Shaggy falls into the trap and/or they accidentally catch the monster another way). Invariably, the ghost/monster is apprehended and unmasked. The person in the ghost or monster suit turns out to be an apparently blameless authority figure or otherwise innocuous local who is using the disguise to cover up something such as a crime or a scam.

6. After giving the parting shot of “And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for you meddling kids” (sometimes adding “…and your stupid dog!”), the offender is then taken away to jail, and the gang is allowed to continue on the way to their destination. The episodes actually had much in common with the emergent Italian giallo genre, or Edgar Wallace mysteries, the damsel (Daphne) often pursued by black-gloved miscreants who are revealed, via a series of red herrings, to be the most unlikely suspect.

The memorably infectious theme tune was written by David Mook and Ben Raleigh, who also supplied the lyrics. Mook had previously written some of the dancier tunes used in The Banana Splits TV show, though oddly, little else after Scooby Doo – it was he who supplied the vocals for the early incarnations of the theme tune. Raleigh was more successful, his lyrics appearing in many successful pop songs, including Ricky Valance’s “Tell Laura, I Love Her”. Though Hanna-Barbera attempted to buy the rights from him, he opted to retain them whilst receiving a royalty, a very shrewd move. The theme was a last minute replacement for Ted Nichols instrumental piece and was recorded just three days before the first episode aired.

The second season featured “chase scene” songs produced by La La Productions (which had originally been contracted to create the music for Josie and the Pussycats, the first of many shows made from the same mould as Scooby-Doo). These songs were written by Danny Janssen and Austin Roberts, and were performed by Roberts, who also made a new recording of the Scooby Doo, Where Are You! theme song for the second season. He had a relatively successful career as a singer songwriter, in the easy listening vein. The tune was later covered by Matthew Sweet as part of the Saturday Morning: Cartoons’ Greatest Hits album.

Episodes contained a laugh track, one of the first Saturday morning cartoon shows to do so. It was removed for syndication in the 1980s. Unfortunately, not long after the Turner networks (TBS, TNT and Cartoon Network) began airing the show in 1994, the crass laugh track was reinstated in 1997.

By 1972, the format had evolved into hour-long episodes, known as The New Scooby Doo Movies, which also featured the introduction of special guests stars, such as Dick Van Dyke and Sonny and Cher and The Harlem Globetrotters, often voicing themselves. Sadly, the length proved a little too testing to be as consistent as its predecessors and the sometimes crow-barred in celebrities diluted the monster’s time onscreen and changed the darker feel to a more light-hearted romp. Some of the key changes were literally that – changes in key. The incidental music to Scooby Doo was from the start a step beyond standard cartoons – there were references to well-used musical techniques used in horror films, from the ethereal theremin to wistful, carefree motifs making way for brash exaggerated brass when the monster appeared. The background artwork too was often surprisingly ‘un-childlike’, the mist-filled woods and eerily-lit ruined buildings being oddly atmospheric for was was merely intended to be Saturday morning fodder.

For many, the monsters and villains of Scooby Doo, Where Are You! also remain superior to those who followed in later series, despite their sometimes quaint appearance and ludicrous un-maskings, they did hold genuine menace. Indeed, it is these elements which were abandoned in favour of rather sillier creations towards the late 1980’s.

Episode 1 – “What a Night for a Knight” – The Black Knight

Episode 2 – “A Clue for Scooby Doo” – The Ghost of Captain Cutler

Episode 3 – “Hassle in the Castle” – The Phantom

Episode 4 – “Mine Your Own Business” – Miner Forty-Niner

Episode 5 – “Decoy for a Dognapper” – Indian Witch Doctor

Episode 6 – “What the Hex Going On?” – The Ghost of Elias Kingston

Episode 7 – “Never Ape an Ape Man” – Ape Man

Episode 8 – “Foul Play in Funland” – Charlie (the Golem-like robot)

Episode 9 – “The Backstage Rage” – The Puppet Master

Episode 10 – “Bedlam in the Big Top” – Clown Ghost

Episode 11 – “A Gaggle of Galloping Ghosts” – Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, Werewolf and the Gypsy

Episode 12 – “Scooby Doo and a Mummy Too” – The Mummy of Ankha

Episode 13 – “Which Witch is Which?” – A Witch and a Zombie

Episode 14 – “Spooky Space Kook” – Spooky Space Kook (a skull-headed alien)

Episode 15 – “Go Away, Ghost Ship” – The Ghost of Redbeard

Episode 16 – “A Night of Fright is No Delight” – Phantom Shadows/Green Ghosts

Episode 17 – “That’s Snow Ghost” – Snow Ghost

Episode 18 – “Nowhere to Hyde” – Ghost of Mr Hyde

Episode 19 – “Mystery Mask Mix-Up” – The Ghost of Zen Tuo

Episode 20 – “Scooby’s Night With a Frozen Fright” – Neanderthal

Episode 21 – “Jeepers, It’s The Creeper” – The Creeper

Episode 22 – “Haunted House Hang-Up” – Headless Spectre and The Phantom

Episode 23 – “A Tiki Scare is No Fair” – Witch Doctor

Episode 24 – “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Werewolf?” – Werewolf

Episode 25 – “Don’t Fool With a Phantom” – Wax Phantom

Characters and voice cast

Don Messick – Scoobert “Scooby” Doo.
Famously, Scooby’s name was taken from the fade-out scat-singing of Frank Sinatra’s classic, “Strangers in the Night”, though it is worth pointing out that there had already been a Scooby (a seal) in the two-part cartoon, Moby Dick and the Mighty Mightor, also voiced by Messick. It was CBS execution Fred Silverman who suggested the name, indeed without his intervention we may well have been left with the initial concept, a bongo-playing sheepdog named Too Much who was far more of a minor sidekick than a pop culture icon.

Messick was already legendary in the voice acting world, from Ranger Smith and Boo Boo in Yogi Bear, to Griswald in Top Cat, to Muttley in Wacky Races, it’s difficult to imagine children’s television without him. Characterising Scooby with a slight speech impediment (well, he is a Great Dane) that sees him starting many words with an ‘r’ (scientifically, this is known as rhoticization), his enthusiastic “Rooby Rooby Roo!” concluded many episodes. Messick voiced Scooby until 1994 when ill-health and stopping smoking led to both a change in his delivery and ultimately his death in 1997.

Another notable voice actor who contributed to the show around the world is Orlando Drummond, who has voiced Scooby from the first episode until the last in 2010 in his native Brazil (a world record for one actor voicing the same character).

Over the course of Scooby-Doo’s various spin-offs, various relatives of Scooby were introduced:

1. Scrappy-Doo: Scooby’s young nephew (and son of Scooby’s sister Ruby-Doo), Scrappy is the bravest of Scooby’s relatives. Scrappy became a recurring character in the Scooby-Doo series beginning in 1979, and was noted for being quite headstrong and always wanting to face off in a fight with the various villains (unlike his uncle). He has several catch phrases, the one he uses the most is “Puppy Power!” Scooby and Shaggy were present at Scrappy’s birth.

2. Yabba-Doo: According to Scrappy and Yabba-Doo Yabba is Scooby’s brother, a white dog owned by Deputy Dusty in the American Southwest. Unlike Scooby, Yabba is brave. Unlike Scooby’s and Scrappy’s, his typical custom catchphrase at the end is “Yippity-Yabbity-Doooo!!!” (and not “Yabba-Dabba-Doo!”, presumably due to Fred Flintstone’s usage of that phrase).

3. Scooby-Dum: Scooby’s cousin (according to Shaggy in “Headless Horseman of Halloween“), a blue-grey dog who longed to be a detective, he was actually rather dimwitted (he would keep looking for clues even after the mystery was solved). His catch-phrase was also different than Scooby’s and Scrappy’s. Instead of “Scooby-Dooby-Dum” his typical custom catch-phrase is “Dum dum Dum DUM!”, an intoning the opening four notes of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, which he would do after someone said the word “clue”.

4. Scooby-Dee: Scooby’s distant cousin, a white dog. Spoke with a Southern accent, and was an actress.

5. Dooby-Doo: Scooby’s cousin, a singer. He is one of Scooby’s few relatives to have hair on his head. Only appeared in “The ‘Dooby Dooby Doo’ Ado”.

6. Momsy and Dada Doo: Scooby’s parents. His mother is the only one who calls him by his full name, “Scoobert”.

7. Whoopsy-Doo: Scooby’s cousin, a clown. Owned by Shaggy (Norville)’s uncle, Gaggy Rogers.

8. Ruby-Doo: Scooby’s sister, and mother of Scrappy-Doo.

9. Skippy-Doo: Scooby’s brother. Highly intelligent; he wears glasses.

10. Howdy-Doo: Scooby’s brother. Enjoyed reading supermarket tabloid newspapers.

11. Horton-Doo: Scooby’s uncle. Interested in monsters and science.

12. Dixie-Doo: Scooby’s cousin and the pet of Betty Lou, Shaggy’s Southern cousin.

13. Grandad Scooby: Scooby’s grandfather.

14. Great-Grandpa Scooby: Scooby’s ghostly great-grandfather.

15. Yankee-Doodle-Doo: Scooby’s ancestor. He was owned by McBaggy Rogers. He also appears to be a pilgrim. Little is known about him.

16. Spooky-Doo: Scooby’s uncle. He was the former owner of Doo Manor

Casey Kasem – Norville “Shaggy” Rogers

Slacker/hippy-type, Rogers, is the only ever-present cast member apart from Scooby Doo to last each series of the show, his distinctive, seemingly never completed goatee beard and catchphrases of “zoinks!” and “like” voiced by Kasem from first episode through to near the end of the run, interrupted only by vegetable-related conflicts with the studio.

As with the other human characters, Shaggy was based on the characters in the early 60’s sitcom, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, in this case, that of Maynard Krebs. Pre-production, Shaggy was known as W.W. though retained the voracious appetite, often the rumbling stomach that led both he and Scooby off the beaten track and into danger. In some series Shaggy is born in Coolsville and his relationship with Scooby began when at school when adopted Scooby Doo from the Knittingham Puppy Farm.

Kasem was initially unhappy with being cast as Shaggy, preferring the role of Fred, said to be because he had no idea how hippies behaved (ironic perhaps for the voice of the American Top 40 for so many years). Kasem also clashed with the show’s writers over Shaggy’s consumption of meat, insisting he should be portrayed as a vegetarian. This led to Kasem occasionally not performing the role in protest. Despite urban legends, there is no truth in drugs playing a part in Shaggy’s behaviour, appetite or appearance.

Relatives of Shaggy shown during the series include:

1. Samuel Chastain Rogers and Wendy Rogers (“Mom and Pops”): Shaggy’s parents. Shaggy’s father is a police officer in most incarnations, except for Mystery Incorporated. At one point, Shaggy’s parents lived in Plymouth, Massachusetts. In Mystery Incorporated, however, Shaggy’s parents are named Colton and Paula Rogers. Casey Kasem (using his natural, American Top 40 voice) voiced “Pops” from The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show through to Mystery Incorporated. Grey DeLisle voices “Mom” in Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated.

2. Maggie “Sugie” Rogers: Shaggy’s younger sister. Seen in A Pup Named Scooby-Doo.

3. Wilfred: Maggie’s fiancé/husband, and Shaggy’s brother-in-law.

4. Gaggy Rogers: Shaggy’s uncle, who likes to play practical jokes.

5. Uncle Shagworthy: Shaggy’s rich uncle. Not only does he look like his nephew — he has the same appetite and cowardice. He keeps his most precious possession, food, in a secret refrigerator with valuable jewels. Voiced by Casey Kasem.

6. Great Uncle Nat (Nathaniel): Shaggy’s great-uncle. Voiced by Lennie Weinrib.

7. Uncle Beauregard: Shaggy’s late uncle, who left his entire fortune and his Southern mansion and plantation to Shaggy in his will. He was referred to in Scooby-Doo Meets the Boo Brothers, although he never made an appearance when he was living. He appeared as a ghost and was one of the villains in the movie.

8. Fearless Shagaford: Shaggy’s uncle, who owns the Fearless Detective Agency

9. Shaggy the First – a ancestor who possessed a medallion which could turn the wearer into a werewolf.

10. Uncle Albert Shaggleford: Shaggy’s rich uncle, an inventor who’s only appeared in Shaggy and Scooby-Doo Get a Clue! Voiced by Casey Kasem.

11. McBaggy Rogers: Shaggy’s ancestor. Founder of the Rogers household and settled in present-day Plymouth, Massachusetts. He is the owner of Scooby’s ancestor, Yankee-Doodle Doo. Made an appearance in The New Scooby and Scrappy Doo Show episode Wedding Bell Boos. Appears to be a Pilgrim.

12. Betty Lou: Shaggy’s Southern cousin.

Frank Welker – Frederick (or Fredward) Fred Herman Jones

Named after the same executive who gave Scooby his name, his character was based on Dobie, Dwayne Hickman’s character in The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. Put before a public vote, it’s quite likely Fred wouldn’t figure too highly in a favourite character poll; cravat-wearing, bossy and regularly opting to pair himself up with Daphne to look for clues, there is a school jock smugness about him which comes to the fore when unmasking the villain – quick to piece together the clues after Scooby and Shaggy have done the legwork. Though rumours have long persisted that Fred and Daphne are in some kind of relationship, the given reason for the pairings is that the creators found Fred and Daphne quite boring, so always looked for a way to keep them off-screen whenever possible.

Fred was originally set to be named “Geoff”, then “Ronnie”, Silverman requesting that his legend carry on in cartoon form with his Christian name. Although Kasem had touted himself for vocal duties, the job instead went to voice-acting newcomer, Frank Welker, then plying his trade as a comedian and radio announcer, with small onscreen roles on television and film. Impressing during an open casting, he won the role of Fred, a role he continues to play, though the character of Fred has not been an ever-present character. Welker has since contributed his voice for a huge number of cartoon characters, ranging from the post-Scooby, Wonderdog, Fangface, the villainous Dr. Claw in Inspector Gadget to more recent characters in the animated Transformers series and those of Ray Stantz and Slimer in The Real Ghostbusters.

Relatives of Fred’s shown or mentioned during the series include:

1. Mayor Frederick Jones Sr.: Fred’s illegal “father” in Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, voiced by Gary Cole. In Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, Fred’s fake father is the mayor of Crystal Cove. He is self-centered and more interested in his status as town mayor and keeping the town’s tourist industry going, something he tries to force on his son. In the season 1 finale, it is revealed Mayor Jones was masquerading as a monster known as “the Freak of Crystal Cove”, and is the person responsible for the disappearance of the original Mystery Incorporated 20 years prior. In order to make sure two members never returned, he kidnapped Fred as an infant as blackmail, raising him as his own son. He is later arrested for his crimes. Later, in “Come Undone,” he becomes the coach at Crystal Cove High School, and says that he always has loved Fred and feels like a father figure to Fred.

2. Skip and Peggy Jones: Fred’s father and mother in the movie Scooby-Doo! Pirates Ahoy!

3. Brad Chiles and Judy Reeves.: Fred’s real father and mother in Mystery Incorporated, voiced by Tim Matheson and Tia Carrere (younger selves voiced by Nolan North and Kari Wahlgren). Both were members of the original Mystery Incorporated searching for the haunted treasure of Crystal Cove, until they were blackmailed by Mayor Jones into leaving Crystal Cove forever.

4. Eddie Jones: Fred’s uncle from A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, voiced by Frank Welker. The publisher of the tabloid newspaper The National Exaggerator.

5. The Count von Jones: Fred’s uncle who lives in a castle near a factory that makes specialized coffins, and runs a museum. Fred intended to visit him during one episode of What’s New Scooby-Doo but was outvoted by the gang, who decided to watch a dog show instead. He is never seen in the series.

6. Uncle Karl: Fred’s uncle who runs a cheese shop near Lake Michigan in Wisconsin. He is better than Fred at bench-pressing.

7. An uncle in the United States Air Force and works for a space agency.

8. An uncle who is first cymbalist in the United States Marine Corps band.

9. A 3 year-old nephew. Mentioned in The New Scooby-Doo Movies episode that guest-starred Monkees member Davy Jones, “The Haunted Horseman of Hagglethorn Hall“.

10. Jed Jones: Fred’s cousin working for Monstrous, Fright, and Magic. He is voiced by Chris Edgerly in Scooby-Doo! Unmasked

Stefanianna Christopherson (season 1 – Heather North, season 2) – Daphne Anne Blake

Fashionista, Blake, the sex siren of the show, is often the magnet for criminal activity in the show. Frequently used as a sounding-board for Fred, it is suggested she comes from a wealthy family, indeed in later appearances, she regularly calls upon her butler, Jenkins. The inspiration for her character comes from that of Thalia Menninger in The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. As with the other characters, her name was changed from the initial pitch, her intended name being Kelly. Though at the beginning of the cartoon’s run, she was often seen to be clumsy and weak-willed, she evolved to be savvy, smart and in Fred’s absence, the non-canine star of the show.

Daphne was originally voiced by Christopherson, an American of Icelandic extraction who left after one series to get married, relocating to New York. Post-Scooby, she has also voiced several characters in the animated series, Captain Caveman, as well as an on-screen role in the innovative horror film, Wicked, Wicked. Her replacement, North, also appeared in Captain Caveman (though neither as the glamorous Teen Angels), her other roles also being on the small screen and rarely in anything other than supporting roles.
Relatives of Daphne, including her four identical sisters, shown during the series’ run include:

1. George Robert Nedley Blake and Elizabeth Blake: Daphne’s parents. In Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, however, the two are named Barty Blake and Nan Blake. Voiced by Frank Welker and Kath Soucie.

2. Daisy: Daphne’s sister, a doctor. Voiced by Jennifer Hale.

3. Dawn: Daphne’s sister, a model.

4. Dorothy: Daphne’s sister, a race car driver.

5. Delilah: Daphne’s sister, in the Marine Corps. Voiced by Jennifer Hale.

6. Uncle Matt Blake: Daphne’s uncle, a cattle rancher.

7. John “J.J.” Maxwell: Daphne’s uncle, a movie director.

8. Olivia Dervy: Daphne’s aunt.

9. Jennifer: Daphne’s cousin.

10. Danica LaBlake: Daphne’s cousin, a famous French model. Voiced by Vanessa Marshall.

11. Shannon Blake: Daphne’s Scottish cousin. Voiced by Grey DeLisle.

12. Thornton Blake V: Daphne’s uncle, owner of a Golf Course near Lake Erie.

Nicole Jaffe – Velma Dinkley (nee Von Dinkenstein)

The somewhat frumpier, cleverer counterpoint to Daphne, the near-sighted Dinkley is most regularly seen losing her glasses, often resulting in either the discovery of the monster they’re chasing or clues and hidden rooms. She has a keen interest in science and in several niche subjects, from local history to world mythology, all of which helps the gang in their weekly quests. Her cross to bear is to be the one to have to deal with Scooby and Shaggy’s antics, often carrying them to safety in her arms, despite the size differences, often whilst exclaiming, “jinkies”, a catchphrase which has yet to be adopted by the masses.The Velma character was inspired by the brainy tomboy Zelda Gilroy, as played by Sheila James, from the late 1950s/early 1960s American sitcom The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. Her name is regularly mistaken as “Wilma” or “Thelma”.

Jaffe played the role until 1973, when she moved from acting to artist representation, becoming wildly successful in the process – her clients have included John Travolta and Elijah Wood. Jaffe also played a part in getting North the role as Christopherson’s replacement as Daphne. The part of Velma then fell to Patricia Stevens, who had a regular onscreen role as Nurse Baker in the long-running M*A*S*H. Replaced again by different actors over subsequent years, Velma was the least constant character, regularly making way for Scrappy-Doo or guest appearances.

Her inconsistent character history sees her being the somewhat unwanted girlfriend of Shaggy in the regrettable twilight years of the show, though this comes to an end as Shaggy finds it impossible to abandon his canine chum. Velma originally had the name “Linda”. Relatives of Velma shown during the series’ run include:

1. Dale and Angie Dinkley, Velma’s parents, voiced by Kevin Dunn and Frances Conroy. They own the Crystal Cove Mystery Museum, which has in its display all of the costumes from the villains the gang has defeated over the years, as well as other objects that have connections to the supernatural or the unexplainable. Angie constantly tries to help her daughter in any way she can, while Dale tends to reprimand Velma.

2. Madelyn Dinkley, Velma’s younger sister voiced by Danica McKellar. She appears to be in her late teens and somewhat resembles her older sister in appearance & personality. Ironically, Velma herself refers to Madelyn as a nerd and does not seem to realize how much alike they really are. Unlike Velma, Madelyn was not exactly sure what she wanted to do for a living and had previously attended clown college until she discovered a fondness for stage magic and enrolls in a school for stage magicians. Madelyn has a huge crush on Shaggy Rogers and as a result of this, Shaggy refers to Madelyn as “Doe-eyed Dinkley” or by simply “Madds”. She plays an important role in Scooby-Doo! Abracadabra-Doo, when the magic school she’s enrolled in is being terrorized by a giant griffin.

3. Aunt Meg and Uncle Evan, Velma’s aunt and uncle (voiced by Julia Sweeney and Diedrich Bader), who live in a small town called Banning Junction which features in a Halloween episode of What’s New, Scooby-Doo?

4. Marcy, Velma’s cousin and the daughter of Meg and Evan. She is studying mechanical engineering in college, but unlike Velma she is fashionable. This, along with Marcy’s interest in Fred, made her Daphne’s rival of sorts. She was born on Halloween which over time led to her hatred of the holiday as it usually upstaged her birthday (even her parents have forgotten it). Consequently, she used local legend and her engineering background to create Mechanical Scarecrow Monsters to terrorize the town on her eighteenth birthday.

5. Aunt Thelma: works with dolphins at a marine institute.

6. Uncle John: works as an archaeologist.

7.Uncle Cosmo: also works as an archaeologist.

8. Uncle Elmo: a doctor.

9. Uncle Ted: also works as an archaeologist.

10. Great Uncle Dr. Von Dinkenstein: Velma’s infamous great uncle, resembling Frankenstein. He’s the reason for Velma’s crime solving business.

So successful was the cartoon that it formed the basis for series such as Scooby’s All-Star Laff-A-Lympics (from 1977-1978), which saw the first of his canine side-kicks, Scooby Dum. At this stage, the character had already moved away significantly from the mystery-solving gang member to knock-around laugh machine, the oddly believable environs of the early cartoons now outlandish and ultra-slapstick, with little of the supernatural. This was to achieve new heights of cringe-worthiness in 1979 when the hour-long Scooby Goes Hollywood introduced the character of Scrappy-Doo, the young son of Scooby’s sister, Ruby-Doo.

Partly due to his unwarranted enthusiasm but also due to the constant over-use of his catchphrases (“Scrappy Dappy Doo”, “Let me at ’em!” and “Puppy Power!” etc), it seems the aspect that most angered fans of the original series was that the programme-makers had opted to make any fundamental changes at all – very much a case of ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. ABC would gladly have argued this point, the viewing figures in 1979 being only a fraction of those at the beginning of the decade. Even more perplexingly, the studio was proved right, the diminutive star becoming a fixture until 1988, even eclipsing the titular star of the show.

History has proven the fans of the early years of the cartoon right; Scrappy-Doo is now regularly used as a term by writers to describe the unwanted addition of a formula to ‘freshen it up’, a distinction previously held by Cousin Oliver, a late addition to The Brady Bunch, which was met with similar jeers or derision. Whilst the early episodes of Scooby Doo utilised distinctive and often innovative monsters as the threat, from the mid to late 80’s the opportunity to use monsters recognisible from more recent horror films was lost.

The dubious accolade of voicing the character fell to Lennie Weinrib, best known as the voice of H.R. Pufnstuf, although the especially keen-eared may recognise his tones amongst the blood-geysers of Shogun Assassin. From 1980-1988, Scrappy was voiced by Don Messick.

Though more recent, feature-length animated efforts have seen something of a return to form, the influence of the original television series cannot be overlooked, from the ritual unmasking of the unlikely villain to the mysterious Scooby Snacks, the characters and story arcs are now used, not only in cartoons but live-action television and film in one form or another. For many a child it was their first exposure to the world of monsters.

In cartoon for alone, Scooby-Doo would be an influence on many other Saturday morning cartoons of the 1970s, many featuring teenage detectives solving mysteries with a pet or mascot of some sort, including Josie and the Pussycats (1970–71), The Funky Phantom (1971–72), The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan (1972–73), Speed Buggy (1973–74), Goober and the Ghost Chasers (1973–74), Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels (1977–80), among others.

The chronology of Scooby on television runs as follows:

1969 – 1975 – Scooby Doo, Where are You!

1972 – 1976 –The New Scooby-Doo Movies

1976 – 1991 –The Scooby-Doo Show and Scooby’s All-Star Laff-A-Lympics (from 1976-1977 it was The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Show)

1979 – Scooby Goes Hollywood

1979 – 1980 – Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo

1983 – 1985 – The All-New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show

1985 – The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo

1988 – 1991 – A Pup Named Scooby-Doo

2002 – What’s New, Scooby-Doo?

2006 – Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue!

2010 – 2014 – Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated

2015 – Be Cool, Scooby-Doo!

Daz Lawrence

NB. Nine episodes from Scooby-Doo’s 1978-79 season, first run on ABC in America, were originally broadcast with the 1969 Scooby Doo, Where Are You! opening and closing sequences (in an attempted stand-alone series revival that was cancelled). The entire 1978-79 season (which completed its run as part of Scooby’s All-Star Laff-A-Lympics and was later syndicated as part of The Scooby-Doo Show) is sometimes marketed as the third season of the original Where Are You! series.

 ‘When I go beserk…you’re better off dead’

Watch Me When I Kill (Italian: Il gatto dagli occhi di giada, also known as The Cat’s Victims and The Cat with the Jade Eyes) is a 1977 Italian giallo film directed by Antonio Bido (The Bloodstained Shadow). It stars Corrado Pani, Paola Tedesco and Franco Citti. Trans Europa Express provide the Goblinesque score.

Plot teaser:

When Mara (Paolo Tedesco) stops by at the chemist to pick up some painkillers she’s unwittingly signed up for a prescription in terror and a world of pain for those around her! Told to come back another day, little does Mara realise that the chemist is lying dead in the back of the shop and she’s bought herself a stalker determined to wipe her out now that she’s a witness…

Buy Watch Me When I Kill on DVD from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Reviews:

“The nods to Hitchcock and Argento are fairly blatant, but done as homage rather than theft so they add to the film rather than detract from it. By no means the best film to come out of Italy in the 1970s, Watch Me When I Kill is still a suspenseful and involving thriller and is a fine addition to the Shameless library.” myReviewer

“I really like Watch Me When I Kill, even if it’s a bit dry and lacks thats unique and spectacular atmosphere that we love so much in this genre, but the story is strong and acting is excellent.” Ninja Dixon

“Bido is obviously a film maker of some talent, he elicits top notch performances from all those involved and keeps the whole polished proceedings rattling along at a fair old rate. And whilst Bido’s film doesn’t contain the breathtaking set pieces of most of Argento’s work, he still manages some highly effective moments.” Hysteria Lives

Wikipedia | IMDb

WH

Crash! is a 1977 film produced and directed by Charles Band (Parasite; Evil Bong 420; Ooga Booga) from a screenplay by Marc Marais (House of the Living Dead).

The film stars José Ferrer (Blood and Roses; Zoltan… Hound of Dracula; Bloody Birthday), Sue Lyon (The Astral Factor; End of the World; Alligator), John Ericson, Leslie Parrish (The Giant Spider Invasion; The Astral Factor), John Carradine, Jerome Guardino (Octaman; Tarantulas: The Deadly Cargo; Victims), John Hayes (director of Dream No Evil, Garden of the Dead, Grave of the Vampire) and Reggie Nalder. The funky score is by Andrew Belling (The Killing Kind; Zoltan… Hound of Dracula).

Plot teaser:

A jealous invalid husband (Ferrer) tries to kill his attractive younger blonde wife (Lyon), but she uses occult powers to take her revenge…

Reviews: 

‘ … even for all its faults, whether they be of the rough-around-the-edges variety or of the what-where-they-thinking variety, Crash! is so kooky it’s hard dismiss it outright. This is a bizarre cinematic curiosity worth tracking down if you’re a fan of truly oddball cinema.’ Dread Central

‘Crash! is a fun B-movie with lots of great explosions and slow-mo car crashes. The added supernatural elements were interesting and unexpected, adding another layer of fun on top of the car action. The acting was pretty good from the cast, with José Ferrer standing out as the invalid husband and Sue Lyon holding her own as the hero/victim … It’s definitely got a low-budget 70s vibe to it, so if that’s a turn-off, be warned.’ Silver Emulsion Film Reviews

Buy Crash! on Full Moon DVD from Amazon.com

‘This film is profoundly weird, although I’m not sure how much of that weirdness was intended. With its somnambulant acting, jumbled narrative and cheapjack filmmaking, the whole thing has a strangely disconnected, almost dreamlike air that was evidently due to ineptitude on the part of Charles Band … The copious car chases and crashes appear to be the film’s primary reason for being, yet they’re quite clumsily filmed and edited.’ Fright.com

Buy Empire of the ‘B’s from Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Choice dialogue:

“Her eyes were like living fire”

Related: The Car | Christine | Duel | Killdozer | Maximum Overdrive

Karen Blanche Black (née Ziegler; July 1, 1939 – August 8, 2013) was an American actress, screenwriter, singer and songwriter. She is best known for her appearances in such films as Easy Rider (1969), Five Easy Pieces (1970), Airport 1975 (1974, ironically), The Day of the Locust and Nashville (both 1975), Alfred Hitchcock’s final film Family Plot (1976), and Capricorn One (1978). Though always reliable, these performances did not lead her to the glitz and reward of many A-list actors, leaving her to appear in fun but lower-budget fare, including many horror films, such as The Pyx (1973); Trilogy of Terror (1975) and Invaders from Mars (1986).

Born in Park Ridge, Illinois, Chicago (the same area Harrison Ford grew up), her mother a celebrated children’s author, her father a business man, Black’s family name derives from her Czech, German and Norwegian ancestry. Her sister is the actor and special effects artist, Gail Ziegler, whose claim to fame is as the creator of Ray Milland and Roosevelt Grier’s shared cranium in The Thing With Two Heads (1972). Enrolling at Northwestern University when aged only 15, studying drama under the tutelage of Alvina Krause, also the teacher of both Charlton Heston and Patricia Neal. Upon graduating, Black soon made a name for herself on Broadway, her debut being in The Playhouse in 1965.

Film work had come even sooner, 1960 seeing her big screen debut in The Prime Time, a very of-the-era juvenile gone wild yarn which although featured Black only fleetingly, is also the landmark debut of Godfather of Gore, Herschell Gordon Lewis, who contributed to some of the dialogue. A more meaningful role came six years later, in the knockabout-comedy, You’re a Big Boy Now, only the second feature directed by the up-and-coming Francis Ford Coppola (the first was Dementia 13). Until the end of the decade, Black was seemingly content with television work, including an episode of the underrated The Invaders in 1967 but it was 1969 which proved to be pivotal in her career.

First came her role as a prostitute in Hard Contract (billed as “an unmoral picture”), starring alongside James Coburn and Lee Remick, before yet more streetwalking in the landmark, Easy Rider. The beginning of the following decade promised much; a lead role, opposite Jack Nicholson, in one of the 70’s most overlooked films, Five Easy Pieces (1970); appearing opposite Robert de Niro in Born to Win (1971) and with Kris Kristofferson and Gene Hackman in Cisco Pike (1972). Five Easy Pieces garnered much critical acclaim (an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress for Black, as well as receiving a Golden Globe) and Black’s star was on the rise.

Black began to dip her toe in horror waters with an appearance in an episode of the television anthology series, Circle of Fear (the episode being The Bad Connection, written by Richard Matheson; the series was originally titled Ghost Story and was something of a Night Gallery take-off) before her first full horror-related feature, The Pyx, a Canadian film released in 1973. Here, Black starred as Elizabeth Lucy, a film shown largely in flashback and, remarkably, seeing the actress, yet again, playing a prostitute! Not for the first time, Black also contributed her musical skills to the film, her plaintive and haunting rendition of “Song of Solomon Chapter 3 verses 1-4”, showcasing her voice as far beyond the usual standard displayed by actors in film.

Accolades continued to pile up; another Golden Globe in 1974 for The Great Gatsby; a major part in Robert Altman’s acclaimed, Nashville (1975, now also giving Black the platform to compose as well as sing and act) as well as two iconic, in very different ways, 70’s masterpieces – Day of the Locust and Airport 1975. She could out-sing and out-act much of the competition and wasn’t confined to typecast roles, equally adept as wide-eyed damsel or conniving villain…and prostitute, of course. However, her experience on John Schlesinger’s Day of the Locust was a far from happy one, with the troubled production causing a great deal of strife between both actors and crew, with many pointing the finger, rather unfairly at Black. The irony of this happening during the making of a film documenting the fictitious collapse of a movie empire was no doubt not lost on any of the participants, though it essentially ended Black’s meteoric rise to stardom.

Regardless, her thirst for acting work did not diminish. Her role in the off-beat, slightly daft, Trilogy of Terror, is now considered one of her most memorable roles amongst fans and in many ways is a showcase for her varied acting talents. Appearing in all three segments, Black also added her own ideas to the script. It again sees the actress working for amongst the greatest talents in the business, the TV film written by the legendary Richard Matheson and directed by Dan Curtis. As if to labour this point, 1976 saw her perform in Alfred Hitchcock’s final film, Final Plot.

From this point on, Black’s career was, perhaps, lower key, but her choices were even more disparate and her performances still enigmatic and intense. From the not-entirely successful – though loved by many – Burnt Offerings (again with Curtis and starring opposite Oliver Reed and Bette Davis), the made-for-television oddity The Strange Possession of Mrs. Oliver, in which she played two roles, or the ahead-of-its-time Capricorn One (both 1977), Black never gave ‘half a performance’ and for many directors, she remained the go-to actress for challenging roles in niche films which demanded an engaging performance in roles which often had a great deal of screen time.

Typical of the fare she was now appearing in was 1979’s Killer Fish, a juicy role for Lee Majors, a remarkable change of fare for Black. Whilst not the nadir of angry poisson flicks, it is comfortable Sunday afternoon viewing and a stark reminder of the shape of her career; it’s no Jaws and it’s not even a Piranha.

The early 1980’s put flesh on the bones of this ominous carcass; a patchy run of low-budget chaff and video boxes swearing blind that everything that occurs on the tape within is ‘based on true events’ provoked only slightly less alarm than a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it part of her appearing in Cannes in 1982’s The Last Horror Film. Roles which would ordinarily have been well-suited to Black, especially some of John Carpenter’s female leads, had now gone to actresses like Adrienne Barbeau and Dee Wallace. Worse still, the new wave of horror films were ushering in younger stars more willing to shed clothing than learn lines.

Speaking to the Chicago Tribune in 2008, Black was far from grateful for the employment the horror genre had given her:

“Scary movies I’ve done — there have been about 14 out of 175. They are not dominant in any way, shape or form. I can tell you what happened, but it was sort of like a mistake. It’s like I went on a bad path and couldn’t find my way back. Being remembered for it is only interesting when you measure it against the few films I’ve done of the genre. When I did “Trilogy of Terror,” with that [demon] doll, I filled the role very well. It was very real to people, and they just fell in love with it. And that got to be incredibly popular. With my last name being Black … so it got to be kind of an unconscious thing, [my association with horror movies]. But I’m not interested in blood”.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but adopting this stance is peculiar given her involvement with the notorious director Ruggero Deodato in 1985’s Cut and Run. Though hardly Cannibal Holocaust, there can be little doubt that the script suggested only ‘mild peril’. If it’s one of her lesser performances, she can be forgiven, though taking this moral high ground and then starring in the archly silly (though entertaining) Savage Dawn, the same year, smacks of selective memory. The 80’s ended with more varied genre films, often of differing standards; the now positively reappraised Invaders from Mars (1986) directed by Tobe Hooper; Larry Cohen’s sequel too far, It’s Alive III (1987); there was even time to appear in the eye-popping clown slasher, Out of the Dark, starring Divine as the detective (!)

The 90’s saw true B-movie activity for Black with roles in films it would have been more humane to have buried at sea. Mirror, Mirror and Evil Spirits were veritable graveyards for actresses who had found themselves cast adrift – others of similar misfortune appearing included Martine Beswick and Yvette Vickers, but to sneer at these films is to assume they themselves felt they were award-worthy material. They weren’t but they did pay the bills and they keep such actors in the public conscious.

A last hurrah threatened with a small role in Robert Altman’s The Player but Black played out her career to more gentle applause; Auntie Lee’s Meat Pies (1992); Children of the Corn: The Gathering and the eventual graveyard for anyone with even the briefest career in horror, Rob Zombie’s House of 1000 Corpses (2003) were not the most dignified end to a career that promised so much but when she died from ampullary cancer in 2013, she had cemented herself as a genuine icon of film – always reliable, always riveting, never afraid to deliver a warts and all performance. Black was the subject of musical homage in the shape of The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black, the transgressive glam punk band.

Daz Lawrence

Selected Filmography:

The Prime Time (1960)

Five Easy Pieces (1970)

Cisco Pike (1972)

Circle of Fear (TV, 1972)

The Pyx (1973)

Airport 1975 (1974)

Trilogy of Terror (1975)

The Day of the Locust (1975)

Burnt Offerings (1976)

The Strange Possession of Mrs. Oliver (1977)

Capricorn One (1977)

Killer Fish (1979)

The Last Horror Film (1982)

The Blue Man (1985)

Savage Dawn (1985)

Invaders From Mars (1986)

Its Alive III (1987)

Out of the Dark (1988)

Evil Spirits (1990)

Haunting Fear (1990)

Night Angel (1990)

Mirror, Mirror (1990)

Children of the Night (1991)

Auntie Lee’s Meat Pies (1992)

Plan 10 from Outer Space (1994)

Children of the Corn IV (1994)

Dinosaur Valley Girls (1996)

Teknolust (2002)

Curse of the Forty-Niner (2002)

House of 1000 Corpses (2003)

Dr. Rage (2005)

Mommy’s Little Monster (2012)

Ooga Booga (2013)

Night Gallery is an American anthology series that aired on NBC from 1970 to 1973, featuring stories of horror and the macabre. Rod Serling, who had gained fame from an earlier series, The Twilight Zone, served both as the on-air host of Night Gallery and as a major contributor of scripts, although he did not have the same control of content and tone as he had on The Twilight Zone. Serling viewed Night Gallery as a logical extension of The Twilight Zone, but while both series shared an interest in thought-provoking dark fantasy, the lion’s share of Zone‘s offerings were science fiction while Night Gallery focused on horror and the supernatural. Serling’s time serving The Twilight Zone came to an acrimonious end in 1964, ultimately selling the rights to the programme to CBS, his creation now riddled with endless outsider tampering, schedule shifts and budget wrangles. Work was never in short supply – he immediately began production on an unconventional Western, The Loner, omitting the usual gunfights and macho posturing in place of more thoughtful character studies. Inevitably, the critics loved it but CBS were unforgiving and the series was cancelled half way through its first run. From here, a less meaningful career as a television game-show host, a popular documentary narrator and writer of television films developed (though a huge ratings-hit, 1966’s The Doomsday Flight unfortunately prompted numerous copycat airline bomb threats). This was punctuated by Serling writing three drafts of the hugely popular Planet of the Apes (1967), though these in turn were re-written to prevent the budget spiralling. Nevertheless, it provided the impetus and the raise in profile for NBC to green-light a TV movie in November 1969, The Night Gallery, which showcased three tales, two of which came from Serling’s own collection, The Season to be Wary. Rather neatly, this saw both the directorial debut of Steven Spielberg (Duel; Jaws) on the episode, Eyes, which also featured the final screen role of acting legend, Joan Crawford (Strait-Jacket); a poignant, yet unintentional, passing of the baton from one master of the art-form to another. Unlike the series, in which the paintings merely accompanied an introduction to the upcoming story, the paintings themselves actually appeared in the three segments, serving major or minor plot functions. It was a success, so a weekly television series was commissioned. Rod Serling’s Night Gallery was initially part of a rotating anthology or wheel series called Four in One. This 1970–71 television series rotated four separate shows, including McCloud, SFX (San Francisco International Airport) and The Psychiatrist. Two of these, Night Gallery and McCloud were renewed for the 1971–72 season with McCloud becoming the most popular and longest running of the four. Serling appeared in an art gallery setting and introduced the macabre tales that made up each episode by unveiling paintings (by artist Thomas J. Wright) that depicted a key scene in the stories.

Buy Rod Serling’s Night Gallery book from Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

The hour-long running time allowed for up to four different tales. Typically idiosyncratic introductions included: “Good evening and welcome to a private showing of three paintings, displayed here for the first time. Each is a collector’s item in its own way—not because of any special artistic quality, but because each captures on a canvas, suspends in time and space, a frozen moment of a nightmare”

“Welcome to this morbid mortuary of oddities in oil…” Night Gallery regularly presented adaptations of classic fantasy tales by authors such as H.P. Lovecraft and Fritz Leiber (Conjure Wife), as well as original works, many of which were by Serling himself or that other titan of the twisted tale, Richard Matheson. All was set for another seminal television series but this was never quite the package Twilight Zone was. Weary of the endless tribulations that dealing with the television network brought, he relinquished production and editorial control, under the assumption he would still be consulted over any major changes, given that his name was writ large over the titles. This was not the case and almost immediately episodes were screened with huge chunks omitted and clumsy re-writes evading thoughtful dark meditations in favour of more basic, schlocky scares.

Buy Night Gallery Season One on DVD from Amazon.co.uk

Throughout its existence, the show featured a sparse, eerie electronic theme tune composed by Gil Mellé, a master of catchy atmospherics on both the small and silver screens, from Kolchak: The Night Stalker and Killdozer to Blood Beach and The Sentinel.

Pitted against not only NCB and CBS, Serling was also up against the might of Universal, who handled production. By the series’ second year, Serling was even having his own scripts rejected and was becoming, in their eyes, an annoyance who had already served his purpose and would continue to do so until the series was cancelled in 1973, his name bound up in the rights with no means of escape. Despite the fluctuating quality, there were still many stand-out episodes and a raft of famous stars making appearances. These included such genre stars as E.G. Marshall (Creepshow); Vincent Price (Witchfinder General; The Abominable Dr. Phibes); Victor Buono (The Mad Butcher; The Evil), Cameron Mitchell (Blood and Black Lace; The Toolbox Murders) and Michael Dunn (The Mutations; Werewolf of Washington).

Memorable episodes included: The Pickman’s Model – H.P. Lovecraft’s classic tale of a painter who is dedicated to painting only what he sees – but how does that explain the ghoulish subjects of his artwork? A Certain Shadow on the Wall – Written by Serling, as if the title didn’t give that away, Agnes Moorhead (The Bat), in one of her final screen roles, plays an elderly lady who proves more than a little difficult to forget. The Devil is not Mocked – Francis Lederer (The Return of Dracula) play a vampiric count whose castle is invaded by Nazi soldiers in World War Two. Written by Manly Wade Wellman, the veteran writer of such pulp tomes as Weird Tales and Astounding Stories. The Caterpillar – Possibly the most beloved of all the stories, a man is determined to win the hand of his best friend’s girl, even if it takes murder… even if that murder takes a small garden creepy crawly to do the dastardly deed. As you might expect, Tom Wright’s paintings which are featured in the series now attract impressive sums of money at auction, often commanding up to $10,000. Wright himself became a successful director of television programmes, including The X-Files and The Wire. Daz Lawrence

Buy Night Gallery Complete Series on DVD from Amazon.com

Buy Terror Television book from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Buy Night Gallery by Rod Serling from Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

‘Serum of Satan, One drop… and a raging monster is unleashed to kill… and kill again in an unending lust for blood!

Voodoo Heartbeat – aka The Sex Serum of Dr. Blake – is a 1972 American horror film written and directed by Belgian ex-pat Charles Nizet (The Ravager; Help Me… I’m Possessed). It stars Ray Molina (producer of Island of Lost Girls in 1969), Philip Ahn, Ern Dugo, Forrest Duke, Stan Mason, Mike Zapata, Mike Meyers, Ebby Rhodes, Mary Martinez and Ray Molina Jr.

io9.com states that cast member Mike Zapata was a descendent of Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata. In an issue of Boxoffice Magazine dated May 15, 1972, Robert Saxton, president of TWI International, the film’s distributor, is quoted to say “Mike Zapata will be one of the top stars of the motion picture and television mediums during the next few years, as he has all the attributes of a James Cagney. The response was so great, says Saxton, that he already has entered into negotiations with Ray Molina Productions to make a sequel entitled Dr. Blake’s Revenge.”

Plot teaser:

Upon discovering the US is in possession of a youth serum, Red China kidnaps a group of American scientists in hopes Mao Zedong can stay in power for as long as possible. To keep the drug out of Communist hands, a rogue American scientist named Dr. Blake injects himself with the formula. Unfortunately, the serum metabolizes faster than his body can process it, creating within him an insatiable thirst for blood. Police track the now monstrous Blake, culminating in an explosive speedboat chase which ends up with Blake dead and his body withered to a mummified husk. [courtesy of io9.com]

Reviews:

” … a fairly well-made exploitation picture that could appeal to both the horror fans as well as “cult enthusiasts.” Torture scenes are fairly realistic and depict the butchering of arms, ears and what have you. Ray Molina’s starring role as the doctor turned madman is handled well. Molina also produced the picture. For nudity there is a brief ritual scene shot in semi-darkness, but quite unrevealing. Charles Nizet’s direction is only passable as he follows his own screenplay. “Voodoo Heartbeat” should do well in exploitation hardtops, but will find its best returns in drive-ins when hard sell is applied.” Boxoffice Magazine

“In this truly awful vampire picture, spies search for a serum with which to achieve eternal youth. Instead of making them young, however, it transforms them into bloodsucking deviates. The film was shot in Las Vegas with an inordinate number of bikini-clad girls performing voodoo rituals. You won’t find a more ridiculous vampire than the middle-aged Molina, sideburns and all, who dresses conservatively in his bloodstained suit and tie. Too weird for words.” TV Guide

“Charles Nizet’s script lacks logic, is heavy on clichés and features a cast of non-heartthrobs.” John Stanley, Creature Features

Buy Drums of Terror from Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Buy Regional Horror Films, 1958 – 1990 from Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Filming locations:

Las Vegas, Nevada

IMDb | Info and image sources: io9.com | Temple of Schlock | Wrong Side of the Art!

Related: Help Me… I’m Possessed

The Krasue (Thai: กระสือ), known as Ahp (Khmer: អាប) in Cambodia and as Kasu in Laos, is a nocturnal female spirit of Southeast Asian folklore. It manifests itself as a woman, usually young and beautiful, with her internal organs hanging down from the neck, trailing below the head.

This spirit moves about by hovering in the air above the ground, for it has no lower body. The throat may be represented in different ways, either as only the trachea or with the whole neck.The organs below the head usually include the heart and the stomach with a length of intestine, the intestinal tract emphasising the ghost’s voracious nature.

In the recent film Krasue Valentine, this ghost is represented with more internal organs, such as lungs and liver, but much reduced in size and anatomically out of proportion with the head.The viscera are sometimes represented freshly daubed with blood, as well as glowing. In contemporary representations her teeth often include pointed fangs in yakkha (Thai: ยักษ์) or vampire fashion. In the 1973 film Ghosts of Guts Eater she has a halo around her head.

Krasue has been the subject of a number of movies in the region, including My Mother is Arb (Khmer: កូនអើយ ម្តាយអាប). Also known as Krasue Mom, this Cambodian horror film has the distinction of being the first movie made in Kampuchea after the absence of locally-made movies and the repression of local folklore in Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge era.

The Krasue is also found in the popular mythology of Malaysia and Indonesia, where it is called the penanggalan, hantu penanggal or leyak, among other names. This spirit is also part of Vietnamese folklore as ma lai via the minority ethnic groups of Vietnam’s Central Highlands. In the Philippines there is a similar ghost, manananggal, a local spirit that haunts pregnant women.

Origins:

In Thailand, there is a legend locating Krasue’s origin in Angkorian Khmer culture. It tells of a certain Khmer princess becoming the Krasue in centuries past after having been executed by burning. The marriage to a powerful Siamese nobleman had been arranged for this Khmer lady following the defeat of her people in war. She was very distressed, however, for she was in love with one of the conquering soldiers, a younger man of a lower status.

Eventually she was caught with her lover and the offended Siamese aristocrat sentenced her to death by burning. Shortly before the execution the princess got a Khmer sorceress to cast a magic spell over her to allow her body to be unharmed by the flames. The spell was powerful, but its effect arrived too late, when most of the body of the princess had been burnt except for her head and some of her viscera. Thenceforward the non-charred remains were cursed to continue living as the Krasue ghost. A modern version of this particular Phi Krasue’s legend was enacted in the 2002 Thai horror film Demonic Beauty.

There are other oral traditions that say that this spirit was formerly a rich lady that had a length of black gauze or ribbon tied around the head and neck as protection from the sunshine. This woman was then possessed by an evil spirit and was cursed to become a Krasue. Other popular legends claim that origin of the spirit may have been a woman trying to learn black magic that made a mistake or used the wrong spell so that her head and body became separated.

Past sins are also related to the transmission of the Krasue curse; women who aborted or killed someone in a previous life will become a Krasue as punishment. Other folk stories talk about a person being cursed to become a Krasue after having consumed food and drink contaminated with a krasue’s saliva or flesh. Popular imagination also claims that the transformation into a Krasue is largely restricted to the relatives of women practicing witchcraft “Mae Mot” (แม่มด) or “Yai Mot” (ยายมด), especially their daughters or granddaughters. Often women acting strange in a community are suspected of becoming nightly a Krasue by other members of the village.

Description in Thai folklore:

The Krasue is under a curse that makes it ever hungry and always active in the night when it goes out hunting to satisfy its gluttony, seeking blood to drink or raw flesh to devour. It may attack cattle or chicken in the darkness, drinking their blood and eating their internal organs. It may also prey on pieces of cattle, such as water buffalo that have died of other causes during the night. If blood is not available the Krasue may eat feces or carrion. Clothes left outside would be found soiled with blood and excrement in the morning, allegedly after she had wiped her mouth.

The Krasue also preys on pregnant women in their homes just before or after the childbirth. It hovers around the house of the pregnant woman uttering sharp cries to instil fear. It uses an elongated proboscis-like tongue, forced into a woman’s vagina, to reach the fetus or its placenta within the womb.

This habit, among other unmentionable things that this spirit does, is believed to be the cause of many diseases affecting women mainly in rural areas during their pregnancy. In some cases it may catch the unborn child and use its sharp teeth to devour it. In order to protect pregnant women from becoming victims before delivery, their relatives place thorny branches around the house. This improvised thorny fence discourages the Krasue from coming to suck the blood and causing other suffering to the pregnant lady within the house. After delivery, the woman’s relatives must take the cut placenta far away for burial to hide it from the Krasue. There is the belief that if the placenta is buried deep enough the spirit cannot find it.

The Krasue hides the headless body from which it originates in a quiet place because it needs to join it before daybreak,living like a normal person during the day, although having a sleepy look. To crush the still headless body of the krasue is fatal to the spirit. The flying head will return after hunting but rejoin with the wrong body which will lead it to suffer torment until death. If the top part of the body fails to find the lower half before daybreak it will die in terrible pain. The Krasue will also die if its intestines get cut off or if its body disappears or gets hidden by someone. Some folk beliefs hold that the creature can be destroyed by burning it. The main foes of the Krasue are mobs of angry villagers. They may catch the Krasue and kill it or watch where she goes before dawn and destroy her body.

Modern popular culture:

Countries where the Krasue tale is popular have adapted it to film:

Krasue Sao (Ghosts of Guts Eater, 1973), Thai: กระสือสาว which features a fight between two Krasues;

Itthirit Nam Man Phrai Thai: อิทธิฤทธิ์น้ำมันพราย made in 1984;

Krasue Kat Pop Thai: กระสือกัดปอบ (1990);

Krasue Krahailueat (Bloodthirsty Krasue), Thai: กระสือกระหายเลือด, made in 1995;

Tamnan Krasue Thai: ตำนานกระสือ (Demonic Beauty) released in 2002;

Krasue Valentine (2006) by Yuthlert Sippapak;

Krasue (The Gluttonous Fear) Thai: กระสือ made in 2007, with Jedsada Roongsakorn and Sirintorn Parnsamutr;

Krasue Fat Pop (Thai:กระสือฟัดปอบ, 2009) with Chutima Naiyana, in which Krasue fights against Phi Pop

Fullmoon Devil (2011) Thai: กระสือ by Komson Thripong.

Krasue also appears in erotic movies such as Krasue Rak Krasue Sawat (2014) Thai: กระสือรัก กระสือสวาท and Wan Krasue Sao (2013) Thai: ว่านกระสือสาว.

Krasue, as Ap (also spelt Arp or Arb), is present in the Cambodian horror films Neang Arp (Lady Vampire) (2004), Tiyen Arp (Heredity of Krasue) (2007), Arb Kalum (The Sexiest Krasue) (2009) and Phlerng Chhes Arb.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s Witch with the Flying Head (1977) includes a Krasue spitting flames and firing laser beams and was dubbed into Thai as Krasue Sawat (กระสือสวาท), meaning “Lovely Krasue”, and Indonesia’s Mystics in Bali (1981) also feature local versions of Krasue.

Buy DVD from Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

This ghost appears periodically in Thai television soap operas (ละคร). Krasue, a popular lakhon aired between 20 December 1994 and 21 March 1995, as well as the more recent Krasue Mahanakhon (กระสือมหานคร). A Krasue has been also comically featured in a Sylvania lightbulb commercial for Thai audiences and in a more recent dietary supplement ad. A rather ugly-looking Krasue has a role as well in the animated movie Nak.

Representations of Krasue, often humorous, are very common in Thai comic books. Since this ghost is a popular subject in some places of Southeast Asia, especially in Thailand, there are even costumes, dolls, key-holders and lamps in Krasue form.

Wikipedia | Image credit: The Gentleman’s Blog to Midnite Cinema

Werewolf by Night – birth name Jacob Russoff, legal name Jacob Russell, nicknamed Jack – is a fictional character, an anti-heroic werewolf in the Marvel Comics universe. The Werewolf by Night (usually referred to by other characters simply as the Werewolf) first appeared in Marvel Spotlight #2. (February, 1972) and was based on an idea by Roy Thomas.

The apparently ‘sudden’ appearance of monsters and horror themes in mainstream comics around this time is almost entirely based upon the updating of Comic Code in January 1971. This allowed the depiction of corruption, criminal activity to be shown in a sympathetic light on occasion and even the killing of police. The update also allowed for ‘classic’ horror characters to appear in comics – these could range from protagonists in the literature of Poe, Lovecraft and other notable writers but also those of vampires, creations of mad scientists and werewolves. Still off-limits were zombies and other monsters which had no firm literary basis but the scramble to bring previously forbidden foes to the page was immediate.

The series name was suggested by Stan Lee and the debut story was crafted by Gerry Conway (co-creator of the Punisher) and Mike Ploog (also responsible for Man-Thing and The Monster of Frankenstein). The character made additional appearances in Marvel Spotlight #3 and #4 and then graduated to his own eponymous series in September 1972. Werewolf by Night was published for forty-three issues and ran until March 1977.

Absent for much of the 1980’s, Russell was gradually introduced in ‘guest star’ roles in issues of Spider-Woman, West Coast Avengers, and Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme. Werewolf by Night was later revived in the pages of Marvel Comics Presents, where he appeared irregularly from 1991-1993. He also made regular appearances as a supporting cast member in the pages of Morbius, the Living Vampire from 1993-1995.

Werewolf by Night, Volume 2 ran for six issues in 1998. The series was written by Paul Jenkins (creator of the Inhumans) and pencilled by Leonardo Manco. After the book’s cancellation, the story was continued in the pages of Strange Tales, which also featured the Man-Thing, though this was short-lived, the strand cancelled due to poor sales. In early 2007, Marvel published a one-shot entitled Legion of Monsters: Werewolf by Night, with art by Greg Land, followed in January 2009 by the four-issue limited series Dead of Night Featuring Werewolf by Night. He was featured as a member of Morbius’ Midnight Sons in Marvel Zombies 4 in 2009.

Though eyebrows could quite rightly be raised at Marvel’s pun-laden name, there was no little thought went into the back story of Russell’s condition. Ancestors of Russoff were plagued with the mark of the wolf as far back as Grigori Russoff in 1795, seeing Dracula slay Grigori’s wife Louisa after he refused to acknowledge Dracula‘s primacy upon his return to Transylvania. Grigori then ambushed and destroyed Dracula, but was turned into a werewolf by Lydia, a werewolf formerly imprisoned by the vampire lord. Grigori took a second wife, but accounts vary as to why lycanthropy failed to pass to his descendents. Sometime prior to May 1930, Grigori’s descendent, Gregor, obtained the legendary Darkhold scrolls, binding them back into book form. Reading lycanthropy’s origins in the Darkhold under a full moon triggered the dormant curse, turning Gregor into a werewolf. Gregor further transcribed much of the Darkhold into Grigori’s diary, essentially creating a Darkhold copy, which he used as his own diary.

Other adventures saw him pitted against adversaries clad in silver-plated armour and an appearance by the Lovecraftian elder God, Chthon before the story skips forwards several generations to another Gregor Russoff, married to Laura, the former girlfriend of his younger brother Philip. Jacob (later Jack) was born in Mediaş, Transylvania, soon after, and Laura became pregnant with Lissa within two years of marriage; however, when lightning struck Russoff’s Transylvanian castle during a full moon, the werewolf Gregor escaped confinement and began attacking villagers. They tracked down and killed Russoff with silver bullets. Gregor’s mother, Maria, was stoned and driven from the village, living with gypsies and learning magic. After Gregor’s death, Laura found Philip – who had moved to Los Angeles, anglicising his name to Russell – and they married after a year; Jack and Lissa remained unaware of Philip’s past. By the time Jack is eighteen, the curse is now apparent in him, causing him to lock himself in a cage during full moons to try to tame his alter-ego, whilst also battling against mystical forces, the law, and strange cults, all of whom would rather see him dead.

This particularly Marvellian intertwining of backgrounds completed, the comic series concentrates on Jack’s battles against numerous foes, which can neatly be split into three. The supernatural element to his plight allows the writers to pit him against the likes of the demon, Krogg; 12th century Mad Monk, Aelfric; the sorcerer, Taboo; the ghost of 19th-century black magician Belaric Marcosa and many others. The horror aspect of the character allows him to seamlessly slot into battles (and sometimes partnerships) with other well-known horror characters: Morbius the living vampire; Frankenstein’s monster, and Mr Hyde, as well as new-comers on the block, Man-Thing and Ghost Rider. More conventionally, the werewolf also features in story-lines featuring Spiderman, the Hulk, Iron Man and Moon Knight (with whom he regularly appears, for obvious reasons), as well as a host of others.

Jack Russell is a descendent of the mystically altered offshoot of humans known as Lycanthropes. During the night of the full moon and the two nights surrounding it he is forced to transform into a werewolf, a large, powerful form which is a hybrid of human and wolf, and loses his human intellect. Through a series of events, he is also capable of transforming voluntarily outside of the full moon, at which time he remains in control of himself.
As a werewolf, Jack gains the proportionate physical advantages of a nearly 7-foot-tall (2.1 m) wolf. In this form, he possesses superhuman strength, speed, stamina, durability, agility, and reflexes, as well as possessing a superhuman sense of smell, which carries over to his human form. He has razor sharp teeth and claws able to rend light metals. The werewolf is resistant to many forms of conventional injury and very hard to kill by conventional means. Though he can be severely wounded, he recovers from non-fatal wounds much faster than a human would. He is vulnerable to magical attacks and, like all supernatural creatures, he can be killed by weapons made of silver, due to its inherent mystical “purity”.

By 2008, Jack had been rebooted entirely for Dead of Night Featuring Werewolf by Night, part of Marvel’s MAX line, intended for ‘more mature’ readers – a green light for gore, nudity and bad language. This allowed writers the freedom to do away with much of the mysticism and magic that permeated many of the story-lines and concentrate more on the plight of Jack’s situation, putting him nearer in league with Hulk’s inability to contain the beast within. The werewolf has also appeared in one-off (“one-shot”) issues, often under the Legion of Monsters banner, which sees him protecting other monsters from harm. He has also found himself interwoven into Marvel’s most popular modern horror line, Marvel Zombies, hunting down the undead as well as assisting in the search for a cure.

Buy Dead of Night: Werewolf by Night from Amazon.com

Television:

•  Werewolf by Night appears in The Super Hero Squad Show episode “This Man-Thing, This Monster“, voiced by Rob Paulsen. Iron Man arrives and helps Werewolf by Night fight an army of mummies led by N’Kantu, the Living Mummy until his girlfriend Ellen is captured. Together with Iron Man and Man-Thing, Werewolf by Night fights Dracula and his mummy army. After Dracula retreats, it is discovered that Ellen was turned into a vampire and joins Werewolf by Night and Man-Thing into forming a team that would defend the town from future monster attacks.

•  Werewolf by Night appears in the Halloween-themed episodes of Ultimate Spider-Man entitled “Blade” and “The Howling Commandos“, voiced by Ross Lynch. He is a member of Nick Fury’s Howling Commandos and seems to have had a bad history with Blade.

•  Werewolf by Night, along with the Howling Commandos, appears in the Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. episode “Hulking Commandos“, voiced by Nolan North. He appears as a member of Nick Fury’s Howling Commandos.

•  The episode “Days of Future Smash: Dracula” featured Werewolf by Night‘s grandfather (also voiced by Nolan North) who was around in 1890 during the Victorian era and helped Hulk, Frankenstein’s Monster, and N’Kantu the Living Mummy into thwarting Leader and Dracula‘s plan to blanket the Earth in darkness with their Gamma Furnace.

Film:

•  A film version of Werewolf by Night, written by Robert Nelson Jacobs (The Water Horse), was announced in 2005, though some ten years later, there are no further developments.

Video games:

•  Russell appears in Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds in Jill Valentine’s ending. He attacks her and Blade alongside other Marvel monsters.

•  Werewolf is a playable character in Marvel Super Hero Squad Online.

Daz Lawrence, Horrorpedia

The Varrow Mission – re-released as TeenAlien – is a 1978 American PG-rated science fiction-horror film directed by Peter Semelka from a screenplay by Ed and Sherma Yeates. It stars Vern Adix, Michael Dunn, Keith Nelson, Dan Harville, Mike McClure, Judy Richards.

Plot teaser:

Local teenagers are holding a Halloween party at a supposedly “haunted” old mill, but find out that one of the partygoers who is dressed as an alien is actually a real alien…

Reviews:

“In and of itself, The Varrow Mission might put you to sleep. It’s a competently made number with lots of youngsters strolling around (some in costumes) and investigating a creepy place. The Close Encounter scenes and talk of UFO-ish legends add some extra promise of threat. Nothing much happens and, at the end, it feels like we’ve watched the pilot for a show that never went to series, with the Varrow getting in different adventures every week.” Bleeding Skull!

“TeenAlien is an incredibly amateur production. Most of the teen actors got their parts through winning a local radio contest … It’s not as Halloween themed as you’d hope (for the ultimate Halloween related fun, check out The Midnight Hour), but it’s a relatively brisk sci-fi/horror mash-up with a couple absolutely hilarious moments.” Tim May, VHS Shitfest

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Image thanks: Haunted Monkey Paw Island

The Norliss Tapes is a 1973 American made-for-television horror film produced and directed by Dan Curtis (Dark Shadows; The Night Stalker) based on a screenplay by William F. Nolan (Trilogy of Terror; The Turn of the Screw; Burnt Offerings) and a story by Fred Mustard Stewart. The strident score was by Robert Cobert.

The film stars Roy Thinnes (Black Noon; Satan’s School for Girls; The Horror at 37,000 Feet), Don Porter (She-Wolf of London), Angie Dickinson (Pretty Maids All in a Row; Dressed to Kill), Claude Akins (Tarantulas: The Deadly Cargo; Monster in the Closet; The Curse), Michele Carey, Vonetta McGee (Blacula), Hurd Hatfield, Bryan O’Byrne, Robert Mandan, Ed Gilbert, Jane Dulo.

Plot teaser:

A newspaper publisher listens to the audio tapes of investigative reporter David Norliss, who has disappeared during an investigation. The tapes reveal the details of that investigation, involving a recent widow whose late husband, an artist obsessed with the occult, has been seen working in his private studio…

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Reviews:

” … it is a great shame this was never picked up as a series. Whilst its premise was very similar to Kolchak it was darker and the central characters were very different, Kolchak dogged yet mischievous, Norliss dour and, certainly just before he vanished, terrified. I’d recommend fans of horror generally to give this one a watch – Sargoth, might have looked like a Hulk reject at the end but, overall, this was a class piece of TV cinema.” Taliesen Meets the Vampires

“But the good stuff just isn’t enough to turn The Norliss Tapes into a classic. NBC, appreantly realizing the movie didn’t quite add up to the sum of its parts, passed on the opportunity to pick up the pilot for a full series. Even so, there’s a possibility The Norliss Tapes might have enjoyed a better reputation over the years… if that old reprobate Carl Kolchak hadn’t upstaged his younger colleague on his own territory just a year and a half later.” Braineater

“It’s laughably quaint like a lot of these 70s TV horrors are. The Norliss Tapes is a fun enough example; propelled by Thinnes’s Dragnet-style voice-over, it stays busy enough but doesn’t leave much of an impression.” Brett Gallman, Oh, the Horror!

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‘Innocent co-ed… or bride of the Devil?’

Mark of the Witch is a 1970 American horror film co-produced and directed by Tom Moore (Return to Boggy Creek) based on a screenplay by Mary Davies and Martha Peters. Composer Whitey Thomas’ synthesizer score is one of the earliest of its type ‘music by Moog'; he later scored Nail Gun Massacre (1985).

Cast:

Robert Elston, Anitra Walsh, Darryl Wells, Jack Gardner, Barbara Brownell, Marie Santell, Gary Brockette, Sande Drewes, Lawrence DuPont, John Figlmiller, Sylvia Rundell, Lori Taylor

Plot teaser:

A 300-year-old witch terrorises a college town to get revenge on the descendant of the man who persecuted her…

Reviews:

“ … inept, but a dated, groovy attempt at the witchcraft genre that some will find amusing and fairly watchable. Though rated “GP” at the time of its release, there are a few bits of blood, but it’s mainly safe drive-in fare for the curious. Anitra Walsh is very sexy, and she pulls of the transition from naïve student to wicked witch nicely, although sometimes she comes off like a secondary character lost in a time warp on an episode of Bewitched.” George R. Reis, DVD Drive-In

“Mark of the Witch is your typical, generic, cheap early 70s witchcraft film, filmed in the sort of colour that lets even brown look like a primary colour, with competent but not interesting direction and amateur actors … The early 70s atmosphere is quite interesting here – the characters aren’t hippies (I repeat, it’s made in Dallas), but young and hip enough to have taken on all the worst characteristics of hippiedom, especially an incredible amount of sexism…” The Horror!?

“Very tame considering the subject matter, it’s filled with nice kids who wear bangs and miniskirts, and who listen to lite music (by Sonny Bonniwell of the Music Machine).” Michael J. Weldon. The Psychotronic Video Guide

Choice dialogue:

“I have never in my life experienced any supernatural powers, never won a bingo game.”

“Time is nothing to the Devil’s favourite child!”

Trailer:

Film:

IMDb | We are grateful to Temple of Schlock for the groovy ad mats above.

Santo vs. Frankestein’s Daughter – original title: Santo vs. la hija de Frankestein – is a 1971 (released 1972) Mexican wrestling-horror film directed by Miguel M. Delgado (Mysteries of Black Magic; Santo and Blue Demon vs. Dracula and the Wolfman); Vengeance of the Crying Woman) from a screenply by Fernando Osés (Santo vs. the Zombies; El barón Brakola; The Beasts of Terror).

Cast: 

El Santo, Gina Romand, Anel, Roberto Cañedo, Sonia Fuentes, Carlos Agosti, Gerardo Zepeda, Carlos Suárez, Carol Bravo.

Plot teaser:

Dr. Freda Frankestein (Gina Romand) and her assistant, Dr. Yanco (Roberto Canedo), are about to to bring one of their experiments to life. She intends to use a monster named Ursus to do her evil bidding. Using a youth serum to retain their vitality, the doctors set their sights upon none other than El Santo. They need his super human blood to regenerate a stronger youth serum. They kidnap Santo’s god-daughter, Norma and lure the masked wrestler into Dr. Frankestein’s lab where he is captured and enslaved…

Reviews:

“1971’s Santo vs. la hija de Frankestein (note the spelling), was a slick Eastmancolor entry, with atmospheric dungeon sets, a fog-bound cemetery, and a gogo-age lab. The film’s greatest asset is Cuban-born actress Gina Romand, who steals the picture as the commanding Freda, Frankenstein’s daughter, cooking up ugly monsters and bossing her muscle-bound henchmen around.” Frankensteinia

“The performances from all concerned are spirited and the script gives the larger than life characters plenty of choice dialogue to chew on. The editing is fast-paced especially during the frequent action sequences with a variety of camera angles employed, something which is often lacking in the cheaper entries in the series. The laboratory equipment appears on loan from an Al Adamson flick and the old age make-ups are of the crispy paper-mache variety but they all add to the comic book flavour.” The Deuce

” … goofy, kitschy fun. Santo makes for a great do-gooder hero; he refers to his tormentor as ma’am and literally gives the turtleneck off his back to Ursus to use as a tourniquet. The dialogue is wonderfully campy (“Our love has broken the chains of your hypnotic force!”) and save for some mild gore, the film has the feel of an old-fashioned kiddie Saturday matinee.” Really Awful Movies

IMDb

Pacemaker Pictures Inc. was an American distribution company that specialised in releasing imported European horror movies with lurid advertising campaigns, often many years later than their initial production/release. The company had been operating since 1952 but their first horror release was the 1960 British film The Flesh and the Fiends, starring Peter Cushing and Donald Pleasence, based on the Burke and Hare murders. The movie had already been issued in the US in 1961 by Valiant Films as Mania but for its 1965 re-release Pacemaker came up with the less subtle moniker The Fiendish Ghouls.

For the legendarily tacky German sleaze/horror film Ein Toter hing im Netz (1960, literal translation: ‘A Corpse Hung in the Web’) Pacemaker provided its 1965 campaign as Horrors of Spider Island. The film had already had a 1962 US release that emphasised its racier elements, as It’s Hot in Paradise but Pacemaker focused on the arachnid attacks.

In 1967, Pacemaker issued a double-bill of Italian imports, Il boia scarlatto (1965) and 5 tombe per un medium (1965) as Bloody Pit of Horror and Terror-Creatures from the Grave respectively. The former is a supposedly sadistic, yet amusingly camp and garish sequence of tacky torture scenes overseen by muscleman Mickey Hargitay as The Crimson Executioner. In its full version, the latter is a reasonably macabre monochrome Barbara Steele vehicle loosely inspired by Poe. Both were directed by Massimo Pupillo.

Pacemaker’s 1969 horror offerings were British Death’s head moth monster oddity The Blood Beast Terror (1967), re-titled The Vampire-Beast Craves Blood (“in frenzied color”), plus Curse of the Blood Ghouls, a renaming of Italian import Slaughter of the Vampires (1962).

Last, but by no means least, 1968 surreal Japanese sci-fi shocker Goke: Body Snatcher from Hell was given a belated 1978 outing as Body Snatcher from Hell, coupled with the aforementioned Bloody Pit of Horror as a support feature (the thirteen year-old movie must have seemed very incongruous to its late-seventies audience).

Buy Italian Horror Films of the 1960s from Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

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