Larry Drake (February 21, 1950 – March 17, 2016) was an American actor and was best known to horror fans as the titular Dr. Giggles in the 1992 film of the same title. To the general public, he is best known for his portrayal of developmentally disabled Benny Stulwicz on the TV show L.A. Law from 1987 until the show’s end in 1994.

Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Drake’s fledgling acting career began in 1971 in Herschell Gordon Lewis’ moonshine exploiter, This Stuff’ll Kill Ya playing Bubba, a character name he also played in Frank De Felitta’s well-regarded 1981 TV movie adaptation of his own novel, Dark Night of the Scarecrow, although the role necessitated him wearing a sack over his head.

Another adaptation of a novel, Peter Benchley’s Beast (filmed in 1996 as TV mini-series The Beast) gave Drake the role of Lucas Coven, who kills a giant squid. Unfortunately, there’s an even bigger monster squid lurking in the ocean.

He was particularly memorable as ruthless mobster, Robert Durant in Sam Raimi’s superhero action horror film Darkman (1990) and its first sequel, Darkman II: The Return of Durant (1995).

Genre TV series roles included Tales from the Crypt – episodes “And All Through the House” and “The Secret” and as the voice of Moss T. Meister in the What’s New Scooby-Doo? episode “Recipe for Disaster” (2004).

Besides minor parts in dark thrillers such as Paranoia (1998) and Pathology (2008, as the unfortunately named “Fat Bastard”), Drake’s other notable horror role was in Dark Asylum (aka Maniac Trasher, 2001) as The Trasher.

However, for horror aficionados, it will be as Dr. Giggles that Larry Drake – who died on March 17, 2016 – will be most affectionately remembered as.

Adrian J Smith, Horrorpedia

Wikipedia | IMDb

‘The black prince of shadows stalks the earth again!’

Scream Blacula Scream is a 1973 American blaxploitation horror film directed by Bob Kelljan from a screenplay by Maurice Jules, Raymond Koenig and Joan Torres.

This is the only sequel to the 1972 film Blacula. The movie was produced by American International Pictures (AIP) and Power Productions. It was made under the working titles Blacula Is Beautiful and Blacula Lives Again!

Main cast:

William Marshall, Don Mitchell, Pam Grier,  Michael Conrad, Lynne Moody, Bernie Hamilton, Richard Lawson.

Plot:

After a dying Voodoo queen, Mama Loa, chooses an adopted apprentice, Lisa Fortier (Pam Grier) as her successor, her arrogant son and true heir, Willis, (Richard Lawson) is outraged. Seeking revenge, he buys the bones of Mamuwalde the vampire from the former shaman of the voodoo cult, and uses voodoo to resurrect the vampire to do his bidding.

However, while it brings Mamuwalde back to life, he quickly bites Willis upon awakening. Willis now finds himself in a curse of his own doing: made into a vampire hungering for blood and, ironically, a slave to the very creature he sought to control…

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Reviews:

“Marshall has the kind of pseudo-Shakespearean dialog and delivery that Vincent Price and others have been polishing at Hammer. And Miss Grier, a real beauty, has a spirit and enthusiasm that’s refreshing. Also, she can scream well, and that is always important in these enterprises.” Roger Ebert

“Marshall is again excellent as Mamuwalde/Blacula, this time not motivated by love but by the destiny of ending his curse once and for all. He has a horde of pasty vampires at his command, and the climatic vampires vs. police fiasco set in a dark mansion is a highlight. Lots of scenes stick out…” George R. Reis, DVD Drive-In

“Scream Blacula Scream is a blaxploitation horror film that takes its influence not just from its predecessor, but the burgeoning subgenre as the whole. This makes for an undeniably entertaining film, but one of lower quality. Further, the morality and social commentary of the first film is lost in the muddled mess that makes up the sequel.” J.C. Macek III, Pop Matters

“It was impressive enough when Blacula got it right, and for the sequel to nail it, too, seems almost too much to ask.” 1000 Misspent Hours and Counting

“This sequel is maybe just hair off from Blacula as a whole; some stretches drag, so much so that the mere appearance of a young Craig T. Nelson is noteworthy. But it’s rather fun and gory enough to hold your attention when it wants to, though the film unfortunately peters out at a climax that doesn’t come close in rivaling the splattery theatricality of Blacula’s first send-off.” Brett Galman, Oh, the Horror!

“Still, the sequel is about as fun and accidentally funny as the first, just in different ways. So it’s hardly a disappointment, even if it’s a shame that Grier was stuck with a fairly passive damsel in distress role when she really should have been kicking Blacula ass. She was born to do such things.” Phil Brown, Dork Shelf

“This sequel is less dramatic than Crain’s 1972 film, but what it lacks in pathos it makes up for in pure absurdity. Scream Blacula Scream is almost a parody of Blacula, with some out of sight performances by Grier, Richard Lawson, and the returning William Marshall. The Universal Horror vibe of vampire romance takes a backseat to the voodoo cult craziness of zombie films from the ’30s and ’40s.” Adam Frazier, Geeks of Doom

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Choice dialogue:

Willis: “I ain’t afraid of no power!”

Blacula: “Your only justification for crawling on this Earth is to serve me.”

Cast and characters:

• William Marshall as Prince Mamuwalde / Blacula
• Don Mitchell as Justin Carter
• Pam Grier as Lisa Fortier
• Michael Conrad as Lieutenant Harley Dunlop
• Janee Michelle as Gloria
• Lynn Moody as Denny
• Barbara Rhoades as Elaine
• Bernie Hamilton as Ragman
• Richard Lawson as Willis Daniels
• Arnold Williams as Louis
• Van Kirksey as Professor Walton
• Craig Nelson as Sarge
• James Kingsley as Sergeant Williams

Trailer:

Wikipedia | IMDb | Art of the Title

‘Did you ever want to strangle your mother?’

The Killing Kind is a 1973 American psychological horror thriller directed by Curtis Harrington (Night Tide; Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?; Ruby) based on a screenplay by Tony Crechales (Point of Terror; House of Terror; The Attic), that was revised by producer George Edwards, a frequent Harrington collaborator. It was originally titled Are You a Good Boy?

Harrington extensively researched studies of serial murderers and said he had been complimented on the film’s accuracy. The film features music by Andrew Belling (Crash!; End of the World; Zoltan… Hound of Dracula) and cinematography by Italian cinematographer Mario Tosi (Frogs; Carrie).

Main cast:

Ann Sothern – Lady in a Cage; The Manitou
John Savage – All the Kind Strangers; Door to Silence; Tales of Halloween
Ruth Roman – The Baby; A Knife for the Ladies
Luana Anders – Dementia 13
Cindy Williams – Beware! The Blob; The Creature Wasn’t Nice; The Stepford Husbands
Sue Bernard – The Witchmaker; Necromancy
Marjorie Eaton – Zombies of Mora Tau; Night Tide; The Reincarnation of Peter Proud

Plot:

Terry (John Savage) is a man whose mind is destroyed after being physically forced to participate in a gang rape and serving two years in prison when the victim, Tina Moore (Susan Bernard), lies about the exact nature of the incident.

Terry’s mother, Thelma (Ann Sothern), runs a boarding house primarily for elderly ladies. Terry and Thelma have a relationship of unusual intimacy.

Terry returns home after the prison stay and moves back in with his mother, spying on their new attractive young tenant.

When his mother wishes that Tina were dead, Terry borrows the car and runs her off the road.

He then kills Rhea Benson (Ruth Roman), the attorney who failed to get him a reduced sentence. He is heavily influenced by the power of suggestion in his vengeance…

Reviews:

“Immersive horror film cum character study is a lost gem among dozens of 70s style ferociousness on film. While Harrington’s movie is occasionally shocking, the performances of its two leads are the pictures life blood. Highly recommended for those who appreciate a carefully constructed horror thriller with mounting suspense and occasional shocks.” Cool Ass Cinema

“But when the focus is on Savage and his mother, I had no issues at all, as these scenes work great (again, as more of a drama than a horror film). She actually unknowingly sets him on his murderous path, as both of them seemingly live to please the other. Yes, it gets a bit icky at times (many a kiss goodnight is on the lips), and will of course invite some comparisons to Psycho, but it actually provides the film with most of its suspense.” Horror Movie a Day

“Terry’s rage and confusion begins to spiral deeper and faster with each female encounter. While Curtis Harrington’s pacing may seem a little slow for some, it is nonetheless an effective psychological study of a murderer. Although compared to similar fare, such as Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, The Killing Kind can feel quite quaint.” Jason McElreath, DVD Drive-In

“So, even with some colorful kills, such as Terry forcing a woman to drink a paralyzing amount of liquor before setting her on fire, The Killing Kind is really just another crude Hitchcock rip-off, right down to the Rear Window­­-style shots of a neighbor spying on Terry with binoculars.” Peter Hanson, Every ’70s Movie

Release:

In the US, the film was handled by Media Trend Productions, a distributor about whom Harrington said in interview “They knew about as much about distribution as my grandmother”.

In the US, Paragon Video released it on VHS in 1987 (a British VHS release was retitled The Psychopath). It was later released as the second half a double-bill with James Landis’s The Sadist (1963) on a DVD from Diamond Entertainment Corporation in 2003.

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Dark Sky Films released the film on Region 1 DVD in 2007. The release features an interview with Harrington made shortly before his death.

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk

Cast and characters:

• Ann Sothern as Thelma Lambert
• John Savage as Terry Lambert
• Ruth Roman as Rhea Benson
• Luana Anders as Louise
• Cindy Williams as Lori Davis
• Susan Bernard as Tina Moore (billed as Sue Bernard)
• Marjorie Eaton as Mrs. Orland
• Peter Brocco as Louise’s Father
• Helene Winston as Flo

Choice dialogue:

Thelma Lambert: “That lousy lawyer. I could have done a better job myself.”

Terry Lambert: “How can a lady judge be tough? I mean, women are supposed to be soft and cuddly, and they smell so sweet and pretty.”

Terry Lambert: “I like the rain. It shuts everything out.”

Wikipedia | IMDb | Image thanks: VHSCollector.com

‘The worms are waiting!’

The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave is a 1971 Italian giallo horror thriller film directed by Emilio P. Miraglia (The Lady in Red Kills 7 Times) from a screenplay co-written with Massimo Felisatti (Strip Nude for Your Killer; The Maniac Responsible) and Fabio Pittorru (The Weekend Murders; Nine Guests for a Crime). The film’s easy listening score is by Bruno Nicolai. The original Italian title is La notte che Evelyn uscì dalla tomba.

Main cast:

Anthony Steffen (The Crimes of the Black Cat; Tropic of Cancer; Evil Eye), Marina Malfatti (Seven Bloodstained Orchids; All the Colors of the Dark), Erika Blanc (Devil’s Nightmare; Mark of the Devil, Part II), Giacomo Rossi-Stuart (Kill Baby, Kill; Reflections in Black).

Plot:

England: Alan (Anthony Steffen) is a wealthy aristocrat who has just been released from a mental institution following the death of his wife, redheaded Evelyn. Having caught Evelyn making out with an unknown man prior to his institutionalisation, the psychotic Alan begins luring redheaded strippers and prostitutes to his home to torture and kill them, as a means to deal with his grief and inability to get revenge on his deceased wife.

Alan attends a séance in which the medium contacts Evelyn, causing Alan to faint. Alan’s cousin (and only living heir) Farley offers to move into the mansion to take care of him. Farley takes him to a strip club and Alan takes home Susan (Erika Blanc), one of the strippers at the club who disappears after barely escaping with her life. Afterwards, Farley believes that Alan would be cured of his instability if he replaces Evelyn with a new bride that resembles her. On Farley’s advice, Alan moves to London to get away from his home and marries Gladys (Marina Malfatti), another redhead.

Gladys finds herself being haunted by strange goings on at her new home and being shunned by Evelyn’s brother and Alan’s invalid aunt, whom Alan has taken in as staff at his mansion. Gladys tells Alan her suspicions that Evelyn faked her death to escape Alan and run away with her lover. Alan’s mental state continues to unravel as Evelyn’s brother and Alan’s aunt are each killed by a mystery killer and when he sees a zombified Evelyn beckoning to him from her tomb, he breaks down completely…

Buy: Amazon.com

Reviews:

“Evelyn is a dark film churning with a rich, gothic atmosphere. Miraglia makes fantastic use of his castle setting, managing a number of moments that are undeniably creepy. It never goes as far as I would’ve liked in terms of scares, but there’s one show stopping sequence set inside of a crypt that seriously crawled under my skin and stayed there – something that scarcely happens to me these days. Miraglia’s sweeping camera, surreal imagery and textured lighting helps to cover up some pretty comical lapses in narrative sense.” Matt Serafini, Dread Central

“There’s lots to enjoy here, including Aunt Agatha and her wheelchair hiding in a wardrobe to spy on people. Plus the hilariously tone deaf pop-combo at the outdoor party. Then there’s Malfatti’s miraculously tiny wardrobe, which shows as much cleavage as humanely possibly without letting her nipples burst free. Bruno Nicolai’s score is typically lush and the film boasts some great cinematography – plus some seriously gorgeous 1970s furniture (now who wouldn’t want that grey faux fur spiral staircase in their home?).” J. Kerswell, Hysteria Lives

” … Evelyn switches narrative gears so many times that first-time viewers may get a nasty case of whiplash. From the lurid S&M sessions and stripteases in the basement to an out-of-nowhere corpse devouring by foxes, Evelyn pulls out all the stops to please its audience without tipping its hand about the characters’ true intentions until the climax. And what a climax it is; suddenly switching the film’s setting to a chilly, icy-white interior out of a Kubrick film, the last showdown is an unforgettably unhinged concoction with poisonings, stabbings, blood-smearing cleavage, and a handy bag of sulphuric acid creating a true Grand Guignol finish.” Mondo Digital

“It’s no easier to follow on the screen, believe me, but it’s all so demented that it becomes compelling in spite of itself. On the other hand, it should be borne in mind that my tolerance for goofball Italianate filmmaking has been raised to great heights by years of intensive exposure.” Scott Ashlin, 1000 Misspent Hours and Counting

Buy mug: Amazon.co.uk

Bruno Nicolai’s main theme with Edda Dell’Orso vocals:

Complete soundtrack:

Wikipedia | IMDb

‘A classic tale of horror!’

Web of the Spider – original title: Nella stretta morsa del ragno (“In the Tight Grasp of the Spider”) – is a 1971 Italian-West German-French supernatural gothic horror film directed by Antonio Margheriti (The Virgin of Nuremberg; Killer Fish; Cannibal Apocalypse), using the pseudonym Anthony M. Dawson, from a screenplay by Bruno Corbucci. The film’s score is by Riz Ortolani.

The film is a colour remake of the 1964 black and white Castle of Blood, also directed by Margheriti. He would later comment that it was “stupid to remake it” and that “the colour cinematography destroyed everything: the atmosphere, the tension.”

Main cast:

Anthony Franciosa (Curse of the Black Widow; Tenebrae; Death House), Michèle Mercier (Black Sabbath), Klaus Kinski (Death Smiles at Murder; Schizoid; Nosferatu the Vampyre), Peter Carsten, Silvano Tranquilli.

Plot:

A troubled Edgar Allan Poe (Klaus Kinski) attempts to confirm a supernatural story by examining the ghosts’ tombs. Later, an American journalist named Alan Foster (Anthony Franciosa) visits Poe in an English inn to challenge the horror writer on the authenticity of his stories.

This leads to Foster’s accepting a bet from Lord Blackwood to spend the night in his purportedly haunted castle on All Soul’s Eve. Foster is surprised by female appartitions who appear to be half-humans. Ghosts of the murdered inhabitants continue to appear to him throughout the night, re-enacting the events that led to their respective deaths and driving Foster towards madness…

Reviews:

“Anthony Franciosa as Alan Foster doesn’t quite blend with the period for me. His haircut screams 70’s and reminds me of James Caan. Oh well. The biggest addition is Klaus Kinski as Poe. Though not in the film much, he is a commanding presence which is a blessing and a curse since he plays Poe as a crazed and sinister drunk. Interesting.” Sinful Celluloid

“Ortolani’s score is as intrusive as in the original version and the presence of Kinski doesn’t compensate for the absence of Steele, but the camerawork is pleasant, and helps make the film one of Italy’s last classic gothic movies…” The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror 

“Stylish Italian supernatural thriller holds one’s attention…” John Stanley, Creature Features

“It’s atmospheric, wistful, occasionally philosophical and very slow.” David Elroy Goldweber, Claws & Saucers

Cast and characters:

• Anthony Franciosa – Alan Foster
• Michèle Mercier – Elisabeth Blackwood
• Klaus Kinski – Edgar Allan Poe
• Peter Carsten – Dr. Carmus
• Silvano Tranquilli – William Perkins
• Karin Field – Julia
• Raf Baldassarre – Herbert
• Irina Maleeva – Elsie Perkins
• Enrico Osterman – Lord Thomas Blackwood
• Marco Bonetti – Maurice
• Vittorio Fanfoni
• Carla Mancini
• Paolo Gozlino

Release:

The film is also known as E venne l’alba… ma tinto di rosse (“And Comes the Dawn… but Coloured Red)”, Dracula im Schloß des Schreckens (“Dracula in the Castle of Terror“), Edgar Poe chez les morts vivants (“Edgar Allan Poe Among the Living Dead“).

Whole film (full screen and Greek subtitles):

Wikipedia | IMDb | Image thanks: Todo el Terror del Mundo

Santo y Blue Demon vs Drácula y el Hombre Lobo (“Santo and Blue Demon vs. Dracula and the Wolf Man”) is a 1973 Mexican supernatural horror film directed by Miguel M. Delgado (El fantasma de la casa roja; Santo vs. the Son of Frankenstein) from a screenplay by Alfredo Salazar (The Witch; Doctor of Doom; Wrestling Women vs. the Aztec Mummy).

Plot:

El Santo gets drawn into the action by his girlfriend Lina Cristaldi. The Cristaldis (Lina, the Professor, his daughter Laura, and her young daughter, Rosita) turn out to be the last descendants of a wizard who killed Dracula and the Wolf Man 400 years ago.

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Santo und der blaue Dämon contra Dracula und Werwolf
10: Während der große Wrestling-Kämpfer El Santo im Ring beschäftigt ist, wird Vampir Dracula (Aldo Monati) zum Leben erweckt.
© Winkler Film
Foto: ARD
Honorarfreie Verwendung nur im Zusammenhang mit genannter Sendung und bei folgender Nennung “Bild: Sendeanstalt/Copyright”. Andere Verwendungen nur nach vorheriger Absprache: ARTE-Bildredaktion, Silke Wölk Tel.: +33 3 881 422 25, E-Mail: bildredaktion@arte.tv

Revived in modern Mexico (by a hunchback), the two monsters plot their revenge, planning to kill, seduce, and/or convert the last Cristaldis…

Buy: Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.com

Trailer:

Whole film:

IMDb | Plot details courtesy of TV Tropes | Image credits: VHS Collector | Wrong Side of the Art! | Zombo’s Closet

Jaani Dushman (“Beloved Enemy”) is a 1979 Indian Bollywood supernatural horror film produced and directed by Rajkumar Kohli from a screenplay by Inder Raj Anand. The soundtrack music was composed by Laxmikant-Pyarelal. It should not be confused with the 2002 film of the same title.

The film stars Sunil Dutt, Sanjeev Kumar, Jeetendra, Shatrughan Sinha, Vinod Mehra, Rekha, Reena Roy Neetu Singh in lead roles.

Buy soundtrack: Amazon.co.uk

Review:

For a film that’s two and a half hours in length, Jaani Dushman is one of the most frantically, manically edited films I’ve ever seen. We jump from scene to scene, location to location at a breakneck pace. The film only ever comes to a grinding halt in its sometimes shockingly lengthy musical numbers. There’s also a handful of torturous comedy sketches revolving around goofy, cross-eyed characters who seemed to have little to no connection to the movie. It’s disjointed, regularly confusing, packed to the brim with a pile of characters who are hard to keep track of, and it’s also kind of great. Why? Well, mostly because it features a hairy wife-murdering monster.

The film opens with a loony and speedy intro. We meet a young married couple whose car breaks down in the middle of nowhere. Their driver attempts to fix the car, while the couple try for help at a nearby big, imposing house. From the moment they enter the creepy abode, it becomes clear that it’s haunted as fuck. A ghostly face of an angry ghost appears and tells them his story. This furious spirit is Thakur Jwala Prasad (Raza Murad). In a flashback we discover that Jwala was poisoned by his red-clad wife (Sheetal) on his wedding night. She married him for his money and ran off, cashed up, with her lover. Prasad’s angry soul lives on, killing any bride in red he comes across.

The spirit of Prasad chases the married couple out of his haunted house then WHAM! We cut to what appears to be a totally unrelated scene of a creepy guy (played by the face that haunted my childhood — Amrish Puri of Temple of Doom!) who has kidnapped a bride. He’s forcing himself upon the bride when suddenly he becomes possessed by Prasad’s evil spirit, which I guess just makes him extra evil? He was, after all, already a rapist. He turns into a hairy, long-armed monster and kills the bride by crushing her neck with his giant, hairy foot.

The terrified married couple see this go down and run away. The monster chases them, but they manage to escape. Hurray! Uh, but yeah… then they get on a train and the monster kills them. The murder scenes in Jaani Dushman are utterly insane and genuinely unsettling. The camera becomes a wild mess of wild angle lenses and fast cuts, and, while they’re not gory scenes, they’re pretty brutal and unpleasant.

So anyway, the bride’s dead, so is the creepy guy that Prasad possessed. Problem solved, right? NO! We’re only five minutes into the film! We then flash forward some kind of small amount of time. We’re thrown into the middle of some village drama where a local bride has just been kidnapped. No one knows what happened, but we do! It was the hairy bride-killing monster! We begin to meet all the important people in the village. There’s Thakur (Sanjeev Kumar), the benevolent dictator of the village who is considered a literal god by the idiotic villagers. There’s Thakur’s shit son, Shera (Shatrughan Sinha), who likes to molest women, and is confusingly presented as something of an anti-hero. There’s the very fun Reshma (Reena Roy), a sexy lady who cross dresses as a moustachioed man for reasons I didn’t understand. And, best of all, there’s Lakhan (Sunil Dutt), the village’s favourite cool guy and king of horse flips.

A whole bunch of brides start getting murdered left, right and centre, and a romantic tug-of-war between Lakhan and Shera with Reshma in the middle ensues. In-between all this nonsense we get goofy sketches with characters who I think we’re supposed to be blind acting stupid. There were long sequences in this where I honestly had no clue what was supposed to be going on. The film also breaks the fourth wall regularly.

Jaani Dushman acts like the identity of the killer is a mystery, but it flat out tells us very early on that Thakur, the village leader, is possessed with the evil Prasad. It shows him having a sweaty, mental breakdown seeing a bride in red, and we may even hear his inner thoughts clarifying that he is in fact possessed (I could be totally making that up… I can’t be bothered scanning through the two and a half hour running time to re-watch this bit). But nope, we get red herring after red herring, despite knowing full well who the killer is.

According to Wikipedia, Jaani Dushman ‘recorded as Super Hit at the box office.’ I don’t know what that means, but I guess it was a successful film. As messy as it is, it’s not hard to see why it might have been popular. It features a crazy big cast of Bollywood stars, the music is mostly great, the locations are lavish, and the horror is completely wild. There’s some wonderfully melodramatic moments (Reshma distracting Shera with a song and then holding him up at gunpoint), and a few twists that took me by surprise (even though they were largely irrelevant to the plot). And there’s a man wearing a silly monster suit and fangs strangling ladies to death. What more could you want?

Dave Jackson, Mondo Exploito

Buy: Amazon.co.uk

Buy: Amazon.com

Further review:

“Compared to today’s Bollywood standards the film may seem technically outdated and jaded but keeping the late 70s in mind it was quite suitably placed in terms of technique: special effects (B. Gupta), make-up, costumes (Bhanu Athaiya, although men’s dresses were rather outlandish, sound (Mangesh Desai), editing (Shyam maintains continuity and ensures that the number of diversions from the main screenplay are kept minimum), stunts (Abdul Ghani) and cinematography. At times, art direction (Sant Singh) is tacky and patchy for scenes shot indoors. The dialogues by Inder Raj Anand add spice and flavour to the proceedings.” Aps Malhotra, TheHindu.com

Wikipedia | IMDb | Thanks to Dave Jackson at the highly-recommended website Mondo Exploito for allowing us to reproduce his review

Indian horror on Horrorpedia: 1920 | 1920: Evil Returns | Aatank | Aatma (2006) | Agyaat | Alone | Bandh Darwaza | Bach ke Zara | Bees Saal Baad | Bhoot Returns | Cape Karma |Dahshat | Darling | Darwaza (1978) | Dracula 2012 | Ek Thi Daayan | Horror Story | Khooni Panja | Ludo | Mahakaal |  Mallika | | Miruthan | Mumbai 125KM | Nagin | O Sthree Repu Raa! | The Other Side of the Door | Phoonk | Pizza | Purana Mandir | Purani Haveli | Pyasa Shaitan |  Qatil Chudail | Ragini MMS | Tahkhana | Vaastu Shastra | Veerana (1988)

‘When the full moon rises’

Wolfman is a 1979 American supernatural horror film written and directed by Worth Keeter (Rottweiler: The Dogs of Hell).

Main cast: 

Earl Owensby, Kristina Reynolds, Sid Rancer, Ed Gracy, Richard Dedmon, Maggie Lauterer, Brownlee Davis.

Plot:

Colin Glasgow (Earl Owensby) returns home after the murder of his uncle to find out that his uncle’s will has been altered and his family is under a werewolf curse. Twists and turns lead to Colin finding his old love Lynn and meeting a priest who is more than meets the eye.

In the end, Colin must find a way to end the curse that has haunted his family over the ages and will do so even if it costs him his life…

Reviews:

“In terms of story, it’s the same old generic werewolf movie we’ve all seen a dozen times; a family curse, sympathetic hero, fade in/out montages showing the transformation, etc. Director/writer Worth Keeter adds absolutely nothing to the formula (even the title is generic, they merely took out the space between Wolf and Man and dropped the The. Way to make your mark).” Horror Movie a Day

“Another big issue I had with this movie was the special effects (or lack there of). There were several poorly acted werewolf attacks but almost no blood. When there was blood, it was next to none.” Sinful Celluloid

“When the werewolf action finally happens, it’s far too anti-climactic to be rewarding in any way. Stay away, far away, unless you are so morbidly curious that you can stand to spend hours lamenting the time you wasted.” Very Terrible Things

Wikipedia | IMDb | | Image thanks: Critical Condition | Wrong Side of the Art!

Creature from Black Lake – aka Demon of the Lake – is a 1976 American Bigfoot horror film directed by Joy N. Houk Jr. (Night of Bloody Horror; The Night of the Strangler; The Brain Machine) from a screenplay by producer Jim McCullough Jr. (Mountaintop Motel Massacre; Video Murders).

The movie was photographed by celebrated cinematographer Dean Cundey (Halloween; Psycho II; Jurassic Park).

Main cast:

Jack Elam (A Knife for the Ladies; Uninvited [1993]), Dub Taylor (Burnt Offerings), Dennis Fimple (House of 1000 Corpses), John David Carson (Empire of the Ants) and Bill Thurman (The Black Cat [1966]; Night Fright; Keep My Grave Open).

Plot:

A Bigfoot type creature that has been reported near a Louisiana town and surrounding swamp area. After local trapper Joe Canton (Jack Elam) reports that his friend was killed by the creature, two University of Chicago students load up their van and investigate. Along the way they have a run in with Sheriff Billy Carter who warns them about upsetting the people of the town. Predictably, they ignore the sheriff and end up finding that the creature is real…

Reviews:

“Creature… draws its effectiveness from its relatively realistic tone. One person’s death is a significant event in the movie, as it would be in real life. What’s more, Creature… avoids the typical situation in exploitation horror, where the heroes are nearly indestructible and the supporting characters are little more than balloons full of stage-blood just waiting to be popped.” Brain Eater

“As with all mid-70s Bigfoot movies, the man appeal of Black Lake is not horror or action or camp. Rather, you get a rural mood piece, a yearning for simpler bygone days when some wilderness yet remained wild, with some mysteries yet remained unresolved. Like the other movies in the subgenre, it is low-budget, largely amateur, blue collar, simple and sincere. And like the other films it has a small devoted cult following.” David Elroy Goldweber, Claws & Saucers

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“Despite a distinct lack of horror and action, the flick ponies up a lot of cheesiness because of the redneck characters. There’s usually something being said about old hound dogs or the weather and how these city boys are just a couple of Yankees. And, I’ve never said no to a Grizzly Adams-like moonshine-drunk hick stumbling into a sheriff’s office with a shotgun.” Oh, the Horror!

Whereas many entries make the mistake of taking their subject matter far too seriously — as if such grim determinism will allay any viewer’s doubts about Bigfoot — here the filmmakers were clever enough to keep the cryptid convincingly savage and scary while loading the balance of the film with healthy doses of regional realism and character-driven humor. The pleasant jambalaya thus concocted is a more believable and amusing blend.” David Coleman, The Bigfoot Filmography

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Interview with The Bigfoot Filmography author, David Coleman

“Despite its obvious handicaps, this ultra-low-budget Bigfoot movie–a subgenre that always seem to suffer from a lack of production funds–is fairly watchable.” TV Guide

“Overall this is a fun movie. Rather than overt monster action, it goes for a steady build up of tension and terror, using its monster sparsely until the final act. The characters never come across as forced or fake, which almost gives the film a documentary feel, a notion made even stronger by the grainy film quality.” Shadow’s B-Movie Graveyard

“Despite a respectable looking ape-suit for the creature, and the presence of Dean (Halloween) Cundey at the camera, the film still wastes its visual possibilities. Bigfoot may be an oral tradition, with sightings passed around as folk stories and local gossip, but it seems a perverse use of the medium to spend more time looking at people talking about Bigfoot than actually showing the thing.” Stephen Thrower, Nightmare USA

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“Dub Taylor and Jack Elam, as good ole swamp boys give the film character, and the Louisiana bayou photography is okay, but the younger characters and their search are hampered by tomfoolery. The film ends with a harrowing chase, but it comes too late.” John Stanley, Creature Features

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“Despite it obvious handicaps, this ultra-low-budget Bigfoot movie — a subgenre that always seems to suffer from a lack of production funds — is fairly watchable.” James J. Mulay (editor), The Horror Film, Cinebooks

Filming locations:

Bossier City, Oli City and Shreveport, Louisiana, USA

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Polish VHS cover

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Wikipedia | IMDb | Image thanks: Shadow’s B-Movie Graveyard

More Bigfoot/Sasquatch movies:

Abominable (2006)

Assault of the Sasquatch (2009)

Bigfoot (1969)

Bigfoot (2006)

Bigfoot (2012)

Bigfoot County aka The Bigfoot Tapes (2012)

Bigfoot: The Lost Coast Tapes (2014)

Bigfoot vs. Zombies (2016)

Bigfoot Wars (2014)

The Capture of Bigfoot (1979)

Clawed: The Legend of Sasquatch (2005)

Dear God No! (2011)

Demonwarp (1987)

Exists (2014)

Field Freak (2014)

The Legend of Six Fingers (2013)

Sasquatch (1975)

Throwback (2014)

Valley of the Sasquatch (2015)

Willow Creek (2013)

Dr. Strange is a 1978 supernatural fantasy television film based on the Marvel Comics fictional character of the same name, created by Steve Ditko. It was written and directed by Philip DeGuere. Stan Lee served as a consultant on the film, which was created as a pilot for a proposed TV series.

Plot:

Hell: The Nameless One (David Hooks) discusses with Morgan le Fay (Jessica Walter) her failure to overcome a wizard to allow the demon access to our world.

The demon tells le Fay that the wizard is now old and weak, and must transfer his position and powers to his successor. Le Fay has three days either to defeat the wizard or kill his successor. That successor is psychiatrist Dr. Stephen Strange (Peter Hooten)…

Review:

To many, this production of Dr. Strange is the lop-headed child of too-closely related parents, superheroes and horror. The anomalous offspring (now, ironically, the progenitor) is usually thought of as a failure because of the hesitance over this perceived muddled lineage and befuddled critics offering up little more than foamy quips in place of real scrutiny. A closer viewing of the telefilm, however, highlights the competence, earnestness, and (in some cases) elevated skill that went into its making.

This odd film was born into a heady stew of recently prioritised metropolitan realism (due to the “Great TV Rural Purge” earlier in the decade), occult detectives pursuing the latest ghoul of the week, and CBS’s whiplash embracing of four-color mayhem. In September of 1977, the network not only launched The Amazing Spider-Man and The Incredible Hulk, but felt so strongly about the genre, they took over production of ABC’s live-action cartoon, Wonder Woman. Their relative success with these programs encouraged the network to take a massive leap sideways into a netherworld of supernatural heroics with the release of this satisfactory, if not luminous, production.

For Dr. Strange‘s musical score, Paul Chihara (Death Race 2000; Death Moon), displays his impeccable skill at setting psychological place through mood; he starts the film off with the right touch of unease, his music exploding to life with grinding, metallic notes plucked from an electronic instrument preposterously named the “Blaster Beam” (later used by Jerry Goldsmith for Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and by Chihara’s student, James Horner, in several of his scores); at the opening, a blood-red text appears over a blackened screen, accompanied by shivering violins and subtle brass undertones which well up underneath the repeated molten electronic accents of the aforementioned Blaster Beam; sprinkled after slower scenes, Chihara wisely uses this disquieting motif throughout the rest of the film in order to revive a regularly lost tension.

The chilly opening text admirably opens up the otherworldly plot of the movie, referring forebodingly to the “known” and “unknown,” the battle between good and evil taking place “beyond the threshold” that separates the two, and how certain people through time are called on to take part in that battle; in this case, that certain someone is, of course, Dr. Stephen Strange (played sincerely by Peter Hooten).

After the opening credit sequences, which are eerily enriched by ominous shots of burning candles, occult iconography, and faux grimoires, the film opens up onto an infernal region of cosmic vistas, deep shadows, and blood-red landscapes.

In workmanlike fashion, the rest of the plot is fleshed out as council between a chesty Morgan La Fey (portrayed with gusto by the always admirable Jessica Walter) and what appears to be a very large, very moist demon created by the special effects team of Thomas J. Wright (a prolific TV hired gun, directing several episodes of NCIS, Castle, and Supernatural) and Mark Wolf; with the exception of an odd trapdoor mouth, the demon is convincing, yet wisely obscured by clouds of billowing smoke.

La Fey is charged by the demon with eliminating his centuries-old enemy, sorcerer Thomas Lindmer (imbued with appropriate weariness by John Mills, probably best known to genre fans as the titular character in ITV’s Quatermass, 1979), and his successor, Dr. Strange, identifiable by a ring he wears displaying the ancient symbol of light.

Art director William Tuntke applies skills developed on such films The Andromeda Strain (1971) to ambitiously depict this dark realm “beyond the threshold”; in a Baroque attempt to elevate a subdued script, he expertly uses free-floating planetoids, star clusters, gaseous landscapes, and canal-lined, bloated orbs to deliver a wonderfully dark, empyreal world which is obviously an attempt to pay homage more to the 1974 Frank Brunner comic book run than to Dr. Strange creator Steve Ditko’s original material.

Equally impressive is Tuntke’s inspired vision, in the following scene, of the elder wizard’s Sanctum Sanctorum; claustrophobic and subterranean in feel, the sanctum is composed of a tangle of cramped and stuccoed passageways linking Hobbity chambers which are archaically cluttered with set decorator Marc E. Meyer, Jr’s inspired choice of antiquarian bric-a-brac and Yarek Alfer’s emulated occult props; such design also smartly points up the symbolism of the dwelling as a desiccated heart in hibernation, waiting for the new blood of new sorcerer, Stephen Strange, to bring it back to life.

Lindmer tasks his assistant Wong (executed with subtle aplomb by Clyde Kusatsu) with finding Strange and prepping him for the forthcoming battle against La Fey. Shortly after, the battle begins in earnest when La Fey takes possession of Clea Lake (played thoughtfully by Eddie Benton aka Anne-Marie Martin) and uses her to attack Lindmer. The attack fails, but sets up the expected thrusts and parries that draw the film to its anticipated conclusion.

Although dominated by traditional two-shots and close-ups, the cinematography by Enzo Martinelli (The Sixth Sense, 1972) is nicely enhanced by high-angle shots in Lindmer’s sanctum, and cleverly used bridging shots of the sun, fire, and candles, playing up the symbolism of light that runs throughout the film; to maintain momentum, several tracking shots are effectively used, and moodiness is bolstered through murky darks and ominous establishing shots. However, a few low-angle shots, pans, subtle tilts, and the occasional hand-held, over-the-shoulder shots could have drastically bumped up the unease quite a bit.

Though a respectable and enjoyable production, it does have its drawbacks, most notably in fledgling writer/director Philip DeGuere’s earnest, but wobbly, attempt at counterpoint; it shows the uncertain hand of an inexperienced director being overwhelmed by the necessity of telling a linear narrative while, at the same time, having to create the oblique sense of disquiet that supernatural horror requires. In his attempt to make the unreal seem more concrete, he made the narrative stronger in the occult sequences, and the more mundane settings of the normal world are infused with opaque disjointedness, as if strangeness were breaking through into reality. This only results in a muting of the whole affair and a dampening of the already limp suspense.

This early experiment in cross-genre pollination is well worth anyone’s time, especially when compared to similar, weaker entries from the same time period.

Review by Ben Spurling

Cast and characters:

• Peter Hooten as Dr. Stephen Strange
• Clyde Kusatsu as Wong
• Jessica Walter as Morgan Le Fay
• Anne-Marie Martin (credited as “Eddie Benton”) as Clea Lake
• Philip Sterling as Dr. Frank Taylor
• John Mills as Thomas Lindmer
• June Barrett as Sarah
• Sarah Rush as Nurse
• Diana Webster as Head Nurse
• Bob Delegall as Intern
• Larry Anderson as Magician
• Blake Marion as Department Chief
• Lady Rowlands as Mrs. Sullivan
• Inez Pedroza as Announcer
• Michael Clark as Taxi Driver
• Frank Catalano as Orderly
• Michael Ansara as Ancient One (voice, uncredited)
• Ted Cassidy as Demon Balzaroth (voice, uncredited)
• David Hooks as The Nameless One (uncredited)

Choice dialogue:

Dr. Strange: “You haven’t seen my face, it makes this look like Heaven.”

Release:

The film was released twice on VHS in the United States, in 1987 and 1995, and also had multiple foreign releases. As of June 2016, the film has not been officially released on DVD.

Wikipedia | IMDb

The Strange Changing Series model kits were sold in 1974 by Model Products Corporation, usually known by its acronym, MPC, a Michigan-based company. The model kits were re-issued in 2012 by Round 2 Models.

Here’s the blurb for The Strange Changing Vampire:

“Open the lid on this ornately engraved casket and you’ll find a snarling vampire leering at you. Close it, open it again and he’s changed into a harmless bag of bones. Close and open it again and the vampire’s back. That’s the Strange Change.”

Source: twentiethcenturykid.tumblr.com

‘There’s a psycho loose with an axe!’

The Severed Arm is a 1972 American horror film directed by Thomas S. Alderman from a screenplay co-written with Darrel Presnell. It was based on a story by Marc B. Ray (interviewed in Nightmare USA – see below) and Larry Alexander (Scream Bloody Murder).

Composer Phillan Bishop contributed an early example of a movie ‘electronic’ synthesizer score that is as jarring as the bizarre plot. Bishop’s other horror soundtracks were Messiah of Evil (1972) and Kiss of the Tarantula (1976).

Cinematographer Robert Maxwell also shot The Astro-Zombies (1968); Blood Mania (1970); Point of Terror (1971); House of Terror (1972) and The Centerfold Girls (1974).

Main cast:

Deborah Walley, Paul Carr (Sisters of Death; Circle of Fear TV series; The Bat People), David G. Cannon, Marvin Kaplan (Kolchak: The Night Stalker; Monsters TV series; They Came from Outer Space), John Crawford (I Saw What You Did; The Boogens), Vince Martorano, Ray Dannis (The Undertaker and His Pals; The Corpse Grinders).

Plot:

A group of cave explorers are trapped by a cave-in. In order to avoid starvation, the group cuts off the arm of one of their fellow cavers. However, moments after doing so, the entire group is rescued.

Several years later, members of the group are being killed by having their arm hacked off in the same way as their original victim. All suspect the original victim (who has disappeared) and contact the victim’s daughter who offers to help find her father and stop the killings…

Reviews:

“The last five minutes of The Severed Arm are little short of brilliant. The problem is the other 86. Until that sudden and meteoric upturn at the end, the movie is minimally competent, but no more than that.” 1000 Misspent Hours and Counting

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“The Severed Arm piles on the atmosphere by taking place mostly at night, with lots of shadowy lighting and isolated characters suffering from paranoia; furthermore, the eerie synthesizer score seethes almost nonstop for the entire running time, creating a constant sense of doom and unease similar to Messiah of Evil. The exposition scenes are indisputably a bit monotonous and pokey at times, but the suspense set pieces are actually quite effective…” Nathaniel Thompson, Mondo Digital

“…the film turns from horror into a more straightforward murder-thriller. Alderman allows the pace to slacken and there are just too many talky scenes; although some of them work dramatically, the film lacks urgency. Perhaps with a more daring shooting style The Severed Arm might have been a shoo-in for cult reappraisal, but it’s hampered by plodding camerawork and functional TV-style editing …

At least Phillan Bishop’s electronic score is fun, an analog synth freak’s delight that sounds like early Tangerine Dream gatecrashing a Pertwee-era Doctor Who story, thus keeping the mood, if not the pace, afloat.” Stephen Thrower, Nightmare USA

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“This film is as scuzzy as can be imagined, with ultra-low rent lighting, tacky film stock and sub par performances.  Also, director Thomas Alderman overuses his electronic score to–and beyond–the point of annoyance.  Nevertheless, in the manner of many early seventies productions, the film’s low budget frequently works in its favor, giving it an appropriately hard-edged, unvarnished feel.” Adam Groves, Fright.com

“Sadly, after the first intriguing 30 minutes, the film degenerates into drabness. The murder sequences are poorly lit and edited. None of the characters are developed. The electronic music is primitive and cheesy. Everything moves slowly. At one one point a character remarks: “I just wish something would happen soon.” You’ll know how he feels.” David Elroy Goldweber, Claws & Saucers

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Release:

The film was released theatrically in the United States by Media Cinema Group in 1973.

The Severed Arm has been released on VHS and DVD by various companies, the legality of which pertaining to official licensing rights is in question. In addition, most current releases feature the edited TV version of the film. The only fully uncut version was released on VHS by Video Gems in 1981

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Choice dialogue:

Mad Man Herman: “You’ve seen one cave, you’ve seen ’em all.”

Ruth: “Even under heavy sedation, he wakes up screaming. It’s horrible!”

Wikipedia | IMDb | Image credits: Blog Wilkins

Scooby Snacks – aka Scooby Snax – began as a fictional food item, but now include a Warner Bros. licensed dog treat (made by Snausages, a subsiduary of Del Monte Foods), a vanilla wafer cookie snack with the same name and Graham cracker sticks.

Scooby Snacks are used as a form of incentive payment for the cartoon characters Scooby-Doo and Shaggy, starting in the Hanna-Barbera series Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? and its various spin-offs.

‘Scooby Snacks’ is also a 1996 song by the band Fun Lovin’ Criminals.

In June 2016, the term ‘Scooby Snack’ was officially added to the Oxford English Dictionary.

Producer William Hanna had always imagined that a “Scooby Snack” would taste like some sort of a caramel-flavoured cookie (however, the batter is coloured like brown sugar and similar in colour to butterscotch), and he and Joseph Barbera had previously used the concept of a dog, Snuffles, that goes wild for doggie treats in the Quick Draw McGraw series in 1959.

In A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, a treat known as Mellow Mutt Munchie was offered as an alternative to the Scooby Snack. They appeared in the episode “The Return of Commander Cool”, where an amnesiac Shaggy believed himself to be his favourite superhero Commander Cool and Scooby to be Mellow Mutt and, as a consequence, wouldn’t allow Scooby to eat a Scooby Snack. Scooby reacted to the Mellow Mutt Munchie the same way he does with the Scooby Snacks.

In another episode, “Wrestle Maniacs”, despite no longer being amnesiac, Shaggy tried to offer a Mellow Mutt Munchie instead of the traditional Scooby Snack but his Mellow Mutt Munchie box was empty so Daphne offered a Scooby Snack anyway.

In Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins it is revealed that Shaggy made up the recipe which includes eggs, water, flour, cocoa, sugar, and dog kibble for texture.

In Be Cool, Scooby-Doo!, it is shown that the recipe for Scooby Snacks comes from Sorcerer Snacks who were renamed for Scooby-Doo after the gang solves the mystery of who was trying to sabotage their production.

Scooby Snacks seem to come in many different flavours (although all boxes are identical), and in one of the later episodes, “Recipe for Disaster”, Scooby and Shaggy are ecstatic when Shaggy wins a tour of the Scooby Snacks factory where they attempt to sample the batter pre-cooking before being shooed off by an irate worker who thinks they are trying to steal the recipe.

Wikipedia

The act of slaying one or more of your fellow human beings in a ritual, usually as a token to a God or spiritual ancestors, extends back to the first glimmers of the dawn of Man – the stranger fact is that it is still practiced today. Taking many forms and seen in a myriad of cultures, these ceremonies, though now far rarer than once they were, still hold a fascination for the creative arts, and human sacrifice is one of the go-to platforms for the construction of horror film and literature, from Greek myth to Hammer Films and H.P. Lovecraft to Children of the Corn.

Human sacrifice almost always revolves around appeasing a supernatural denizen of a perceived afterlife – the greatest gift seen to offer an apparently vengeful deity being a living (soon to be dead) offering.  The earliest evidence of human sacrifice found thus far has been in the Sudan, where an excavated Neolithic site uncovered evidence of three apparently high-ranking individuals being killed in a ritualistic manner, surrounded by high value ceramics and two slaughtered dogs.

Dating back 5,500 years, this was in the period that Man made the transition from hunter-gatherers to more ‘civilised’ farmers and cultivators. Elsewhere in Africa and seemingly having developed completely separately to this example, bodies have been unearthed in Southern Egypt, dating back to approximately 3000 B.C. which have identifiable marks of having their throats cut prior to decapitation.  Carved tablets from a similar period depict a kneeling person in front of another holding what resembles a sword, a bowl on the ground in front of the former, presumably to catch the spilled blood. A monarch or God in the image strongly indicates that this is a ritualistic killing as opposed to an execution for a crime. Egyptian discoveries feature two of the most common reasons given for killing a human – to appease a God or to ward off potentially disastrous natural events, and to give a deceased elder or leader suitable accompaniment to the afterlife, often buried alive with the less active corpse inside a pyramid or other sealed tomb.

In Asia, similar examples of human sacrifice took place to pay tribute to dead slave owners and high ranking dignitaries – in China, slaves accompanied their masters to the afterlife in both small numbers and mass slayings of up to nearly 200 men, women and children. Across the border in Tibet, pre-Buddhism, the execution of innocent men and women, as well as instances of cannibalism, a practice which rather goes hand-in-hand with human sacrifice, were commonplace – even centuries later, there are a few examples of renegade sects killing people as part of secret tantric rituals.

In India, the South Pacific, many parts of Africa and most famously, South America, sacrificial human offerings are well documented from ancient and not so ancient times. These range from the use of a sharp implement to cut the neck (or remove the head entirely), the resulting blood or body parts often drunk/eaten or used to make potions and body decoration; the impaling of the victim through whatever orifice was seen most suitable, thus allowing the offering to be on display to the relevant God as a totem; poisonings, flayings, live burials and even more inventive methods.

Mayan and Incan sacrificial ceremonies are amongst the best-understood, largely due to the clear documentation left in the form of ornate daggers, beautiful illustrations, mass grave sites and almost impossibly preserved mummies. Particularly prevalent was the sacrifice of children, a recurring Aztec  ritual requiring the ‘tears of children’ to appease their rain God. South and Central American offerings were on scale significantly larger than many other cultures – confirmed examples have ranged from several hundred at a time to several thousand. An estimate from one historian suggests up to 250,000 Aztecs could have met their end in this way in just one year.

In ancient Hawaii, ritual killings were largely centred on demonstrating military strength, the capture of an opposing tribal chief being cause for especially brutal torture, with the victim strapped upside down on a wooden rack and pulverised with blunt instruments to tenderise the flesh. The triumphant chief would rub his capture’s sweat upon his body and then gut the unfortunate enemy, naturally not wasting anything and partaking of their innards as a reward.

Though the establishment of the major religions we now see around the world, these practices were either outlawed or were rejected by evolving societies. However, sacrifice of a human (and certainly animals) still occurs throughout the world, largely in secret ceremonies still dedicated to the pleasing of a deity. Killings are found in remote areas of India and Sub-Saharan Africa, as part of religious rites, witchcraft and for personal financial gain and well-being.

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Though rarer, the specific practice of Vodun or Vodou /Voodoo is rumoured to occasionally utilise human rather than animal offerings, even in the present day. Other cults, even in Western Europe, still offer sacrifice as part of ceremonies from self-proclaimed messiahs to devil worship – indeed, some  serial killers could well be said to do the same, although in a far more ‘lone-wolf’ scenario.

Human sacrifice in Britain was certainly rumoured to have taken place in the Iron Age, though the tendency was for the offering of a slaughtered animal, usually a horse or dog in exchange for forgiveness or good fortune. Druidic rituals did, allegedly, see humans killed, though it is thought these were more often prisoners of war or criminals. Methods of dispatch have been well documented due to the discovery of several incredibly well-preserved corpses found in peat bogs throughout the 20th Century (a phenomenon also seen throughout Scandinavia).

The most famous British example has been dubbed Lindow Man (due to the location of the discovery) and his method of dispatch seen to consist of a mistletoe-spiked drink and several blows to the head, whilst in Denmark, a similarly well-preserved corpse, Tollund Man, displayed evidence of having been hanged, though it has not been able to ascertain whether this was sacrificial or pure punishment for a crime.

Roman texts, penned by the likes of Julius Caesar, Tacitus and Pliny the Elder, reveal outright disgust at the practice of human sacrifice and cannibalism by the Celts. This, it has to be said, is a tad eyebrow-raising, given the Roman’s penchant for impromptu mass-murder and massacre for sport. However, much of this rhetoric has been disregarded as propaganda, an attempt by the Romans to portray the Celts as inhuman savages. Ironically, the most iconic image of human sacrifice in Britain around this time, the looming wicker man, was almost certainly an animal only offering, with no evidence found to suggest that humans were also encased within and set on fire.

The disturbing and often perplexing history of human sacrifice has lent itself to all areas of art for centuries. The Mexicans and inhabitants of pre-Columbian America celebrated the act in wildly elaborate statuary and paintings. The ever-inventive Aztecs’ actions did rather lend themselves to artistic documentation – the removal of vital organs from living victims, starvation, immolation, drowning and cannibalism were all used to give thanks to one god or another. These have appeared rendered on ceramics and codices, whilst often ornate daggers reveal the planning and importance the sacrifices had in their societies.

The Mayans could at least match these feats, sometimes even trumping them with absurd-sounding ceremonies involving live burial, the bow and arrow equivalent of a firing squad and, most intriguingly, the strange entwining of sacrifice and an Mesoamerican ballgame, in which losing teams would often find themselves beheaded, their skulls becoming ‘bats’ for future games.

There is even pictorial evidence of people being bound up with twine until they resemble the large rubber-type balls usually used, the unfortunates batted and kicked around mercilessly until death or victory. As with the Aztecs, many vessels, paintings and carvings have been unearthed featuring these acts, as well, of course, as the sacred pyramids they were usually centred around, including the dedicated altars.

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Human Sacrifice in Horror Films

The Mummy (1932 and many times thereafter)

A reanimated Imhotep seeks to reanimate his long-dead lover by mummifying the unlucky Helen

The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932)

Boris Karloff, as the diabolical Fu, attempts to masquerade as a resurrected Genghis Khan in order to stir up an Asian uprising into conquering the West. Pre-code, so heady stuff.

King Kong (1933/1977)

Poor old Fay is welcomed to Skull Island to meet their gigantic God for dinner.

The Black Cat (1934)

Satan. Rites. Damsel. Karloff. Lugosi.

The Mole People (1956)

Subterraneran Sumerian crackpots sacrificing elders after mistaking daylight for a mystical oracle

The Devil’s Hand (1959)

Likeable Satanic cult shenanigans, headed by Neil Hamilton (Commissioner Gordon from the Batman TV series)

The City of the Dead (1960)

Atmospheric, if a little threadbare Christopher Lee vehicle

She (1934/1965)

Immortal jungle queen demands an equally long-living companion by immolation in a mystical blue flame

Blood Feast (1963)

Food catering meets Egyptian rites as Fuad Ramses dispatches local girls to please the God Ishtar.

Eye of the Devil (1966)

The title offers more than a nod in the direction this hugely atmospheric though undervalued film takes. Almost certainly the only film starring David Niven, Sharon Tate, Donald Pleasence and John Le Mesurier.

Brides of Blood (1968)

Mutations on a remote island require virginal sacrifices to a local monster.

The Devil Rides Out (1968)

Dennis Wheatley, the go-to for Devil-satiating texts, is brought to film in one of Hammer’s greatest offerings. Those sacrificing are seen to be ‘normal’, respected members of society, as opposed to the popular view of dancing, mostly naked hippies.

The Blood on Satan’s Claw (1970)

Standard English village fare – the resurrection of the cloven one through skin growing and sacrificial rituals.

The Shiver of the Vampires aka Le Frisson des Vampires (1971)

Jean Rollin’s dreamy look at sacrifice in a chateau.

Tombs of the Blind Dead (1971) and sequels…

Though the slowly shuffling zombies are the star of the show, their origins as blood-drinking, Satan worshipping Templar knights at the beginning of this three-film saga are shown in flashback

Enter the Devil (1972)

A grimy entry into the 70’s obsession with Satanic cults

Blood Orgy of the She-Devils (1972)

Ted V. Mikel’s uber-schlocky blood-thirsty witches on the hunt for male blood to offer to the Devil.

The Mummy’s Revenge aka La Venganza de la Momia (1973)

Dazzling, if not entirely gripping entry into Paul Naschy’s attempt to play every famous horror monster

The Wicker Man (1973)

Poor Sergeant Howie gets closer to some frightened goats than he’d like, all for the sake of some apples.

Craze (1974)

Psychotic London-based antique dealer Neal Mottram (Palance) sacrifices women to the statue of African god Chuku in the belief that it will help his ailing finances…

Race With the Devil (1975)

This well-oiled set-up of the inadvertent observation of a human sacrifice leading to a cult in pursuit has rarely been matched.

The Devil’s Men aka Land of the Minotaur (1976)

Tourists visiting a Greek archeological site are being abducted by a strange cult, intent on providing their God – the Minotaur – with a sacrifice!

Mardi Gras Massacre (1978)

Part of the notorious ‘video nasty‘ list, this slaughter for Aztec Gods romp is still unavailable in the UK.

Demonoid (1981)

300 years ago, a Mexican Satanic cult cuts of the hands of their victims to please the Devil. Years later a hand causes mischief.

Midnight aka The Backwoods Massacre (1982)

Backwoods ‘cops’ and their demented siblings sacrifice young women in a psychotic attempt to resurrect their mother’s decomposed corpse…

Q: The Winged Serpent (1982)

Larry Cohen’s hugely entertaining modern day tale of sacrifice in New York, seeing the follower of an Aztec cult sacrificing locals in a bid to appease a huge flying Quetzalcoatl living atop a skyscraper (ironically, a God whom the Aztecs didn’t actually deem as requiring human sacrifice, actually being gifted slain hummingbirds and butterflies)

Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)

An ingenious plot sees now iconic masks lulling innocent wearers to their fate at the expense of Old Gods.

Children of the Corn (1984-2011)

Preposterously long-running franchise in which a town’s over-18’s are sacrificed to a cornfield-based deity

Blood Cult (1985)

A local sheriff investigates a spate of sorority slayings that are found to be the work of a satanic cult. One of the earliest shot-on-video releases, it’s a self -sacrifice to sit through!

A Return to Salem’s Lot (1987)

Larry Cohen’s almost universally derided follow-up to the much (and, I would suggest, unjustly) revered Tobe Hopper mini-series see the town farming blood from a supply of non-vampiric folk.

Evil Altar (1988)

In the small town of Red Rock, a devil-worshipping cult led by Reed Weller (William Smith), is in league with the local sheriff (Robert Z’Dar). Weller’s servant is The Collector (Pepper Martin) who kidnaps boys and girls for sacrifice…

The Lair of the White Worm (1988)

Ken Russell’s slightly rude, slightly berserk and slightly entertaining snake god romp

The Guardian (1990)

William Friedkin’s unfairly overlooked, if rather daft tree-worshipping drama with ancient druids needing blood to satiate their idols

Borderland (2007)

With a Mexican backdrop, a refreshing change to the norm with drug runners and cartels mixing with the more traditional religious cults

The Shrine (2010)

A remote Polish village harbours a terrible secret (it’s human sacrifice)

Rites of Spring (2011)

A man known only as the Stranger kidnaps and sacrifices young women as part of a pagan death ritual…

The Cabin in the Woods (2012)

One of the most divisive horror films of recent years offers up a novel depiction of sacrifice, which audiences either loved or hated

House of the Witchdoctor (2013)

Surprisingly competent teens in peril horror.

House of Salem (2016)

When kidnapping goes wrong…

Sacrifice (2016)

An ancient pagan religion requires the sacrifice of young women in the Shetlands

Daz Lawrence, Horrorpedia.com

The art of selling a movie, particularly a horror movie, is often based on a distinctive and memorable poster campaign. An intriguing, horrific or even repellent image – aligned with a few keywords that aim to draw an audience in – are vital promotion, even before potential punters get to see a teaser or trailer.

Some of the few keywords, or tag lines, used to promote horror films have become classic in themselves, instantly recognised as part of popular cinema culture. Here are some of the most memorable tag lines:

‘Be afraid. Be very afraid.’

‘By sword. By pick. By axe. Bye bye.’

‘Can a movie go TOO FAR?‘

‘Cross your heart… and hope to die!‘

‘The film that could only be made in South America… where Life is CHEAP!‘

‘The good news is your dates are here. The bad news is…they’re dead.‘

‘He could be the boy next door…‘

‘Humans are such easy prey.’

‘If this movie doesn’t make your skin crawl…it’s on TOO TIGHT!’

‘If this one doesn’t scare you, you’re already dead!’

‘If you think you’re safe… you’re DEAD wrong!‘

‘In space, no one can hear you scream.’

‘It takes all kinds of critters to make Farmer Vincent Fritters.‘

‘It will take your breath away. All of it.‘

‘It’s dead of night and everyone’s asleep. …ALMOST EVERYBODY!’

‘It’s not fear that tears you apart… It’s him!‘

‘John will never eat shish kebab again.’

‘Just when it’s safe to go back in the water …you can’t get across the beach!’

‘Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the bathroom…’

‘Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water.’

‘The lucky ones died first!”

‘Man is the warmest place to hide.‘

‘The monster demands a mate!‘

‘The night HE came home!‘

‘Norman Bates is back to normal. But mother’s off her rocker again‘

‘Sometimes dead is better‘

‘Terror has no shape.‘

‘The blood runs in rivers… …and the drill keeps tearing through flesh and bone’

‘They slime. They ooze. They kill!‘

‘They’re here‘

“This was the night of the CRAWLING TERROR!”

‘This woman has just cut, chopped, broken, and burned five men beyond recognition…but no jury in American would ever convict her!‘

‘Today the pond! Tomorrow the world!‘

‘The ultimate experience in gruelling terror’

‘We are going to eat you!‘

‘Welcome to the Witching Hour.‘

‘When the left hand doesn’t know who the right hand is killing!!‘

‘When the earth spits out the Dead… they will return to tear the flesh of the Living.‘

‘When there’s no more room in HELL, the dead will walk the EARTH‘

‘Where shopping costs you an arm and a leg!‘

‘Who will get nailed next?‘

‘Who will survive and what will be left of them?‘

‘You don’t have to go to Texas for a chainsaw massacre!‘

‘You have the right to remain silent. FOREVER!‘

‘You’ll never close your eyes again.‘

Here are lots of lesser known horror movie tag lines:

’13 keys open the doors to the house haunted by the living dead!’

’40 luscious beauties marked for murder’

‘250 pounds of maniacal fury’

‘Abby doesn’t need a man anymore… The Devil is Her Lover Now!’

‘An entire town bathed in pulsing human blood! Madmen crazed for carnage!’

‘Angela is having a party. Jason and Freddy are too scared to come. But you’ll have a hell of a time.’

‘Babes of the night, with a different appetite!’

‘The birth of your worst nightmare.’

‘A blood-dripping brain transplant turns a maniac into a monster…’

‘Blood madness… out of the fog… into your heart!’

‘Can you face the ULTIMATE in DIABOLISM …..can you stand PURE TERROR?’

‘Check in. Unpack. Relax. Take a shower.’ (Psycho, 1998)

‘Close your eyes for a second… and sleep forever.’

‘Creeping terror… striking from the depths of Hell!’

‘Date. Mate. Re-animate.’

‘Death his religion – Blood his lust!’

‘Death is the only way out!’

‘Digging in the cemetery can have grave consequences.’

‘Don’t dare look behind you! Just feel the skin crawl on the back of your neck’

‘Don’t throw rice… just scream your head off!’

‘Doomed to walk the earth as slaves to the lord of the living dead!!!‘

‘Enough to make even Hitchcock jump!’

‘Every girl is frightened before her wedding night. But this time…there’s good reason!’

‘Every second your pulse pounds they grow foot by incredible foot!’

‘Everyone has nightmares about the ugliest way to die.’

‘A fiendish vampire from a strange world in outer space drains his victims’ blood and turns them into weird corpses!‘

‘First he chills them. Then he kills them.’

‘The first motion picture to called gore-nography!!!’

‘A gift from Heaven… or a curse from Hell!’

‘He chose his weapons… he selected his victims… he picked his nose…’

‘He wants your body. In pieces.’

‘He’s out there… out of sight, and out of his mind!’

‘Heads will rock & roll’

‘A horror horde of crawl-and-crush giants clawing out of the earth from mile-deep catacombs!’

‘A hunger from beyond the grave!’

If stark terror were ecstasy… living here would be sheer bliss!’

‘If you have a craving for terror come to the class reunion’

‘It’s cleavage vs. cleavers and the result is delta delta deadly!’

‘In a bowling alley from Hell, there’s only one way to score…’

‘Love means never having to say you’re ugly’

‘Lust has never been this terrifying!’

‘Lusting for women it terrified the land!’

‘The nightmare terror of the slithering eye that unleashed agonizing horror on a screaming world!’

‘Nothing so appalling in the annals of horror!’

‘One crazy night of debauchery and damnation!’

‘People of Earth: your planet is about to be destroyed… sorry for the inconvenience.’

For the sake of your sanity, pray it isn’t true!’

‘Pretty young ladies make the perfect plant food!’

‘Remember that kid everyone ignored on Valentine’s Day? – He remembers you.’

‘Roaches have never tasted meat… until now.’

‘The rocking, shocking, new wave of horror!’

‘RUN – if you must HIDE – if you can SCREAM but…’

‘Save your screams until you see its face’

‘Screaming young girls sucked into a labyrinth of horror by a blood-starved ghoul from hell.’

‘The screams you hear may be your own!’

‘Sex, drugs and the walking dead’

‘Sinner… Your evil shall destroy you…’

‘Some things shouldn’t be disturbed…’

‘Someone’s taking a big slice out of the Big Apple…’

‘Something you wouldn’t dare to imagine is alive!’

‘They are not here for candy.’

‘They have come from another world… to stay!’

‘They lived by eating human bones… and threatened to consume the world!’

‘They’re not human. But they hunt women. Not for killing. For mating.‘

‘This film will provoke, anger and sicken!’

‘Those Slap-happy Screamsters go a’hauntin!’

‘Warm blood isn’t all they suck!’

‘We will eat your heart out!’

‘What a horrible way to die!’

‘When play becomes slay‘

“When you can’t scream anymore!”

‘White-hot terror! Cold, clammy fear!’

‘Work. It sucks the life out of you.’

‘The worms are waiting!‘

‘You are what they eat.’

‘You may never sleep alone again!’

‘You scream, you expand, you explode.’

‘You’ll eat your heart out!’

‘You’ll scream yourself into a state of shock when you see-‘

Martin Kosleck (March 24, 1904 – January 15, 1994) was a German film actor, born Nicolaie Yoshkin in Barkotzen in Pomerania. He soon gained a foothold in German cinema and landed a role in Alraune, the noted science fiction horror film directed by Richard Oswald in 1930.

However, like many other German actors, he fled when the Nazis came to power, travelling first to England and then New York, before settling in Hollywood.

Inspired by his deep hatred of Adolf Hitler and his henchmen, Kosleck would make a career in Hollywood playing villainous Nazis. He went on to appear in more than eighty films and television shows in a 46-year span. Initially, his icy demeanour and piercing stare on screen made him a popular choice to play Nazi villains.

With the end of the Second World War, Nazi roles declined. Having already appeared in Paramount’s 1941 proto-horror Basil Rathbone vehicle, The Mad Doctor, Kosleck then moved into B horror films with aplomb, with roles in Universal’s The Frozen Ghost and The Mummy’s Curse (both starring Lon Chaney Jr., whom Kosleck disliked intensely), House of Horrors and She-Wolf of London.

House of Horrors gave Kosleck his best-remembered role beyond playing Goebbels, as an insane sculptor, Marcel De Lange, who saves a disfigured man (Rondo Hatton) from drowning. Marcel takes the unfortunate man into his care, making him the subject of his next sculpture and declaring it his best creation. But as negative reviews begin to break Marcel’s last nerve, he has the Creeper (as he’s known) start killing the critics…

With fewer film opportunities presenting themselves, Kosleck returned to New York City and appeared in Broadway plays. He would also appear on television as guests in episodes of numerous shows such as Boris Karloff’s Thriller, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Outer Limits, Batman, and The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

However, it is as the mad scientist Professor Peter Bartell in the stylish, gory, and ahead-of-its-time Long Island-lensed The Flesh Eaters (1962) that Kosleck will best be remembered by horror aficionados.

Wikipedia | IMDb

Grim’s Dyke is the name of a mock Tudor house and estate in Old Redding, Harrow Weald, in north-west London, England. The house was built from 1870 to 1872 by Richard Norman Shaw for painter Frederick Goodall and named after the nearby prehistoric earthwork known as Grim’s Ditch.

The house is best known as the home of the dramatist W.S. Gilbert of Gilbert and Sullivan, who lived there for the last two decades of his life. He died while attempting to save a girl from drowning in his huge lake. Lady Gilbert lived there until her death in 1936. The house was then used as a rehabilitation centre until 1963.

From 1963, the house was used mainly as a location for films and television. It was converted into Grim’s Dyke Hotel in 1970, but continues to be occasionally used as a film location.

Horror and thriller films shot in the house and its grounds were mainly Tigon productions such as  The Blood Beast Terror (1967), Curse of the Crimson Altar (1968) and Cry of the Banshee (1970). Others include Naked Evil (1966, re-worked as Exorcism at Midnight in 1973) and Agatha Christie adaptation Endless Night (1971).

Curse of the Crimson Altar (1968)

Cult television series filmed at Grim’s Dyke include: Doctor Who: “The Evil of the Daleks” (1967), The Avengers, The Saint, The Champions, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) and Department S.

Buy: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.ca

Chosen Survivors is a 1974 American-Mexican science fiction/horror film directed by Sutton Roley (Sweet, Sweet Rachel; Satan’s Triangle; The Curse of Dracula TV series) from a screenplay written by H.B. Cross [Harry Spalding: House of the Damned; Witchcraft; Curse of the Fly] and Joe Reb Moffly, based on Spalding’s storyline. The Bats is an alternate title.

Main cast:

Jackie Cooper, Alex Cord (Point of Terror; The Dead Are Alive; Uninvited), Richard Jaeckel (Grizzly; Day of the Animals; The Dark) Bradford Dillman (The Mephisto Waltz; Bug; Piranha), Diana Muldaur (The Other), Pedro Armendáriz, Jr. (The Vampires; Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark), Lincoln Kilpatrick (The Ωmega Man; Piranha [1995]), Gwenn Mitchell, Barbara Babcock (Salem’s Lot), Cristina Moreno, Nancy Rodman and Kelly Lange.

Plot:

After being selected at random by a computer to seek safety in an underground bomb shelter on the eve of a nuclear attack, a group of refugees makes a horrible realisation: They’re sharing the space with a colony of vampire bats. And since going back above ground isn’t an option, they’re forced to stay and fight for their lives…

Buy: Amazon.com

Reviews:

Intelligent plotting, sexual and psychological drama and an offbeat directorial approach make this quite a unique little movie. Director Sutton Roley was obviously trying to break out of TV with this one, though he was a master of top TV shows for decades. Skewed camera angles are effectively used to show the disorientation of the survivors as they arrive, wide-angle lenses to accent their claustrophobia.” Black Hole Reviews

“The film suffers from cheesy special effects and a dreary droning score, but — being a performance-based melodrama — is most adversely affected by a capable cast uninspired by the script’s clichéd dialogue … Nevertheless, it conjures up some intermittent suspense and unease, thanks to Sutton Roley’s able direction and some exceptional bat wrangling.” Tim Lucas, Video Watchdog

“Even though the characterizations are somewhat trite, and the melodramatic histrionics tend to be excessive, there are still plenty of positives to be found in Chosen Survivors. From an aesthetics standpoint, the cinematography and lighting, along with the framing and blocking of the actors, are executed in most unusual ways. Characters and objects are commonly placed equidistantly from each other within sparse, static settings.” Matt Martell, DVD Drive-In

“The script by Harry Cross plays loose with logic and character, and we’re given little background outside of exposition by the group psychologist (an effective Bradford Dillman). Still, the archetypal personalities make for some interesting debate, which comprise sections of the film between deadly vampire bat attacks.” Technicolor Dreams

” …if you look closely, you’ll see what a prize sirloin this is amongst the other science fiction steaks.” Cinefantastique

“Another misfit group united by disaster; more shocks than suspense, and not much characterisation, but for adventure/horror addicts it will pass the time.” Leslie Halliwell, Halliwell’s Film Guide

“The characters and plot are straight from stock and recall the heyday of the fifties ‘B’ picture. Nonetheless, the film works well within its own undemanding limits.” Alan Frank, The Science Fiction and Fantasy Film Handbook

Cast and characters:

• Jackie Cooper – Raymond Couzins
• Alex Cord – Steven Mayes
• Richard Jaeckel – Major Ellis
• Bradford Dillman – Peter Macomber
• Diana Muldaur – Alana Fitzgerald
• Pedro Armendáriz, Jr. – Luis Cabral
• Lincoln Kilpatrick – Woody Russo
• Gwenn Mitchell – Carrie Draper
• Barbara Babcock – Dr. Lenore Chrisman

Release:

The film was released theatrically in the United States on May 22, 1974 by Columbia Pictures.

The film was released on DVD in a double feature with The Earth Dies Screaming as part of MGM’s Midnite Movies series.

On October 4, 2016, the film is released on Blu-ray by Scream Factory.

Wikipedia | IMDb | AFI | Image thanks: Critical Condition | Technicolour Yawn

Amok: King of Legend is a 1976 British fantasy novel written by Ken Follett, using the pseudonym Bernard L. Ross.

These days, Ken Follett is a successful thriller writer, but in the mid-1970s, he was just starting out, and wrote a handful of pulp crime and espionage novels – some under his own name, but most under pseudonyms after his agent advised him that it might be a good idea to keep these trashy novels separate from the (hopefully) better novels that he would write as his career progressed.

In 1976, Futura Books – like most publishers – had been sniffing around the forthcoming remake of King Kong, which everyone assumed would a huge box office hit (in the end, the film made money, but nowhere near as much as everyone expected). There had been a couple of novelisations of the original 1933 film – sometimes credited to Edgar Wallace, though he had actually only written a rough draft of the film at most before his death – and despite the film remake, there seemed to be some confusion over the ownership of the story. Certainly, it wasn’t possible to copyright the idea of a giant ape, despite Dino De Laurentiis’ best efforts to keep Kong imitators (Queen Kong, The Mighty Peking Man, A*P*E) out of cinemas.

With this in mind, Futura contracted Follett to write a giant ape novel, which was shamelessly promoted as a Kong-alike, complete with cover image by legendary fantasy artist Chris Achilleos that showed the giant ape atop a building battling helicopters – just as King Kong would do in the new film.

Credited to ‘Bernard L. Ross’ (a pseudonym Follett would also use for the novelisation of Capricorn One a few years later), Amok is actually a rather different beast from Kong, being a genetically-altered chimp, the result of mad-scientist experiments in the African jungles. Biologist Harry Kaminsky, filmmaker Warren Macalpine, love interest Purity Lane (yes, really) and a supporting cast of shallow, egocentric and corrupt characters head off in search of the mythical beast called The Amok by local natives, and have assorted scrapes with pygmies, guerillas and each other en route to finding the giant monster. Along the way, we get stuff like this:

The doctor was not perturbed. “It’s a common thing for young girls to fall in love with someone completely unattainable, like a film star.”

“She’s not as young as she looks”, Warren said. She’s twenty-two or -three. And a giant ape is not a pop star.”

Follett was paid £1500 for the novel, which took him four weeks to write – not a bad deal in 1976. The book was, I recall, everywhere in the winter of 1976.

Essentially, Amok: King of Legend is entertaining pulp fiction – not as grubby or perversely readable as the best New English Library titles, but good fun nonetheless.

Interestingly, the 1976 King Kong was never novelised, though Lorenzo Semple Jr.’s screenplay was published in the US.

Also worth seeking out: Michel Parry’s short story collection The Rivals of King Kong.

David Flint – This article first appeared in The Reprobate

Robert Albert Bloch (April 5, 1917 – September 23, 1994) was an American fiction writer, primarily of crime, horror, fantasy and science fiction, from Milwaukee,Wisconsin.

Bloch is best known as the writer of the 1959 novel Psycho, the basis for the 1960 film of the same name directed by Alfred Hitchcock. His work has been extensively adapted for the movies and television, comics and audio books.

His fondness for a pun is evident in the titles of his story collections such as Tales in a Jugular Vein, Such Stuff as Screams Are Made Of and Out of the Mouths of Graves.

Bloch wrote hundreds of short stories and over thirty novels. He was one of the youngest members of the Lovecraft Circle. H. P. Lovecraft was the young writer’s mentor and one of the first to seriously encourage his talent. However, while Bloch started his career by emulating Lovecraft and his brand of “cosmic horror”, he later specialized in crime and horror stories dealing with a more psychological approach.

Bloch was born in Chicago, the son of Raphael “Ray” Bloch (1884–1952), a bank cashier, and his wife Stella Loeb (1880–1944), a social worker, both of German Jewish descent. Bloch’s family moved to Maywood, a Chicago suburb, when he was five.

Formative Years and Early Career

At ten years of age, he attended a screening of The Phantom of the Opera (1925). The scene of Chaney removing his mask terrified the young Bloch and sparked his interest in horror.

In 1929, the Bloch family moved to Milwaukee. Robert attended Lincoln High School, where he met lifelong friend Harold Gauer. Gauer was editor of The Quill, and accepted Bloch’s first published work, a horror story titled “The Thing” (the “thing” of the title was Death).

Bloch’s first professional sales, at the age of 17 (July 1934), to Weird Tales, were the short stories “The Feast in the Abbey” and “The Secret in the Tomb”. “Feast…” appeared first, in the January 1935 issues which actually went on sale November 1, 1934; “Secret in the Tomb” appeared in the May 1935 Weird Tales.

Bloch’s early stories were strongly influenced by Lovecraft. Indeed, a number of his stories were set in, and extended, the world of Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. These include “The Dark Demon”, in which the character Gordon is a figuration of Lovecraft, and which features Nyarlathotep; “The Faceless God”; “The Grinning Ghoul” and “The Unspeakable Betrothal”. It was Bloch who invented, for example, the oft-cited Mythos texts De Vermis Mysteriis and Cultes des Goules. Many other stories influenced by Lovecraft were later collected in Bloch’s volume Mysteries of the Worm.

After Lovecraft’s death in 1937, which affected Bloch deeply, Bloch broadened the scope of his fiction. His horror themes included voodoo (“Mother of Serpents”), the conte cruel (“The Mandarin’s Canaries”), demonic possession (“Fiddler’s Fee”), and black magic (“Return to the Sabbat”). Bloch visited Henry Kuttner in California in 1937. Bloch’s first science fiction story, “The Secret of the Observatory”, was published in Amazing Stories (August 1938).

In an Amazing Stories profile in 1938, accompanying his first published science fiction story, Bloch described himself as “tall, dark, unhandsome” with “all the charm and personality of a swamp adder”. He noted that “I hate everything”, but reserved particular dislike for “bean soup, red nail polish, house-cleaning, and optimists”

In 1944 Bloch was asked to write 39 15-minute episodes of a radio horror show called Stay Tuned for Terror. Many of the programs were adaptations of his own pulp stories. A year later, August Derleth’s Arkham House, published Bloch’s first collection of short stories, The Opener of the Way. At the same time, one of the first distinctly “Blochian” stories was “Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper”, which was published in Weird Tales in 1943.

The story was Bloch’s take on the Jack the Ripper legend, and was filled out with more genuine factual details of the case than many other fictional treatments. It cast the Ripper as an eternal being who must make human sacrifices to extend his immortality. It was adapted for both radio (in Stay Tuned for Terror) and television (as an episode of Thriller in 1961 adapted by Barré Lyndon).

Bloch followed up this story with a number of others in a similar vein dealing with half-historic, half-legendary figures such as the the Marquis de Sade (“The Skull of the Marquis de Sade”, 1945) and Lizzie Borden (“Lizzie Borden Took an Axe…”, 1946).

Bloch’s first novel was the thriller The Scarf (1947). (He later issued a revised edition in 1966). It tells the story of a writer, Daniel Morley, who uses real women as models for his characters. But as soon as he is done writing the story, he is compelled to murder them, and always the same way: with the maroon scarf he has had since childhood.

With the demise of Weird Tales, Bloch continued to have his fiction published in Amazing, Fantastic, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and Fantastic Universe; he was a particularly frequent contributor to Imagination and Imaginative Tales. His output of thrillers increased and he began to appear regularly in such suspense and horror-fiction magazine projects as Shock.

Jack the Ripper

Bloch continued to revisit the Jack the Ripper theme. His contribution to Harlan Ellison’s 1967 science fiction anthology Dangerous Visions was a story, “A Toy for Juliette”, which evoked both Jack the Ripper and the Marquis de Sade in a time-travel story. His earlier idea of the Ripper as an immortal being resurfaced in Bloch’s contribution to the original Star Trek series episode “Wolf in the Fold”.

His 1984 novel Night of the Ripper is set during the reign of Queen Victoria and follows the investigation of Inspector Frederick Abberline in attempting to apprehend the Ripper, and includes some famous Victorians such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle within the storyline.

Psycho (1959 novel)

Norman Bates, the main character in Psycho, was very loosely based on two people. First was the real-life serial killer Ed Gein, about whom Bloch later wrote a fictionalized account, “The Shambles of Ed Gein”. Second, it has been indicated by several people, as well as allegedly by Bloch himself, that Norman Bates was partly based on Calvin Beck, publisher of Castle of Frankenstein.

Bloch has also, however, commented that it was the situation itself – a mass murderer living undetected and unsuspected in a typical small town in middle America – rather than Gein himself who sparked Bloch’s storyline. He writes: “Thus the real-life murderer was not the role model for my character Norman Bates. Ed Gein didn’t own or operate a motel. Ed Gein didn’t kill anyone in the shower. Ed Gein wasn’t into taxidermy. Ed Gein didn’t stuff his mother, keep her body in the house, dress in a drag outfit, or adopt an alternative personality. These were the functions and characteristics of Norman Bates, and Norman Bates didn’t exist until I made him up. Out of my own imagination, I add, which is probably the reason so few offer to take showers with me.”

The novel is one of the first examples at full length of Bloch’s use of modern urban horror relying on the horrors of interior psychology rather than the supernatural. “By the mid-1940s, I had pretty well mined the vein of ordinary supernatural themes until it had become varicose,” Bloch explained to Douglas E. Winter in an interview. “I realized, as a result of what went on during World War II and of reading the more widely disseminated work in psychology, that the real horror is not in the shadows, but in that twisted little world inside our own skulls.” While Bloch was not the first horror writer to utilise a psychological approach (that honour belongs to Edgar Allan Poe), Bloch’s psychological approach in modern times was comparatively unique.

Bloch’s agent, Harry Altshuler, received a “blind bid” for the novel – the buyer’s name wasn’t mentioned – of $7,500 for screen rights to the book. The bid eventually went to $9,500, which Bloch accepted. Bloch had never sold a book to Hollywood before. His contract with Simon & Schuster included no bonus for a film sale. The publisher took 15 percent according to contract, while the agent took his 10%; Bloch wound up with about $6,750 before taxes. Despite the enormous profits generated by Hitchcock’s film, Bloch received no further direct compensation.

Only Hitchcock’s film was based on Bloch’s novel. The later films in the Psycho series bear no relation to either of Bloch’s sequel novels. Indeed, Bloch’s proposed script for the film Psycho II was rejected by the studio, and it was this that he subsequently adapted for his own sequel novel.

The 1960s: Hollywood and screenwriting

TV work included ten episodes of Thriller (1960–62, several based on his own stories), and ten episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1960–62). In 1962, he wrote the screenplay for The Cabinet of Caligari (1962), an unhappy experience.

In 1962, Bloch penned the story and teleplay “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” for Alfred Hitchcock Presents. The episode was shelved when the NBC Television Network and sponsor Revlon called its ending “too gruesome” for airing. Bloch was pleased later when the episode was included in the program’s syndication package to affiliate stations where not one complaint was registered. Today, due to its public domain status, the episode is readily available in home media formats from numerous distributors and free video on demand.

Bloch wrote original screenplays for two movies produced and directed by showman William Castle, Strait-Jacket (1963) and The Night Walker (1964).

Freddie Francis directed British production The Skull (1965) was based on his short story “The Skull of the Marquis de Sade” but penned by Milton Subotsky. Bloch went on to write five feature movies for Amicus Productions: The Psychopath, The Deadly Bees, Torture Garden, The House That Dripped Blood and Asylum. The last two films featured stories written by Bloch that were printed first in anthologies he wrote in the 1940s and early 1950s.

In 1968 Bloch contributed two episodes for the Hammer Films series Journey to the Unknown for Twentieth Century Fox. One of the episodes, “The Indian Spirit Guide”, was included in the TV movie Journey to Midnight (1968).

The 1970s and ’80s

During the 1970s Bloch wrote two TV movies for director Curtis Harrington – The Cat Creature and The Dead Don’t Die. The Cat Creature was an unhappy production experience for Bloch. Producer Doug Cramer wanted to do an update of Cat People (1942), the Val Lewton classic. Bloch says: “Instead I suggested a blending of the elements of several well-remembered films, and came up with a storyline which dealt with the Egyptian cat-goddess (Bast), reincarnation and the first bypass operation ever performed on an artichoke heart.” A detailed account of the troubled production of the film is described in Bloch’s autobiography, Once Around the Bloch.

Buy: Amazon.co.uk

Meanwhile, (interspersed between his screenplays for Amicus Productions), Bloch penned single episodes for TV series Night Gallery (1971), Ghost Story (1972) and Gemini Man (1976).

His numerous novels of this two decade include horror novels such as the Lovecraftian Strange Eons (1978); the non-supernatural mystery There is a Serpent in Eden (1979); his two sequels to the original Psycho (Psycho II and Psycho House), and late novels such as the thriller Lori (1989) and The Jekyll Legacy with Andre Norton (1991). Omnibus editions of hard-to-acquire early novels appeared as Unholy Trinity (1986) and Screams (1989).

Bloch’s screenplay-writing career continued active through the 1980s, with teleplays for Tales of the Unexpected (one episode, 1980), Darkroom (two episodes, 1981), Alfred Hitchcock Presents (one episode, 1986), Tales from the Darkside (three episodes, 1984–87) and Monsters (three episodes, 1988–1989 – “Beetles”, “A Case of the Stubborns” and “Everybody needs a Little Love”). No further screen work appeared in the last five years before his death, although an adaptation of his “collaboration” with Edgar Allan Poe, “The Lighthouse”, was filmed as an episode of The Hunger in 1998.

In 1994, Bloch died of cancer at the age of 77 in Los Angeles after a writing career lasting 60 years, including more than 30 years in television and film.

Wikipedia | Image credits: Too Much Horror Fiction