This movie will make you feel really disgusted and scared. It's about a psycho / strangler / rapist in the L.A. area, played by Nicholas Worth (the fat guy who turns into a midget in Swamp Thing). He methodically stalks women and kills them usually via strangulation then calls in to a psychiatrist's radio show and taunts her with an insane Spanish accent. You get to see Worth lifting weights and tying panty hose around his neck. He is one of the craziest psychos you will ever see in a movie. In one scene, he lures a hooker back to a hotel with the promise of shooting a speedball, then makes her call in to the radio show while he strangles her. When her pimp walks in on this scene, the two get in a fist fight which ends in the psycho's favor. There's tons of scenes where Worth's character is just driving around scheming. It's in these scenes that we're shown the grimiest sectors of L.A. circa 1980, and it's fascinating. As far as creepy films go, this one's right up there with naseously depraved and depressive horror classics like "Maniac" which oddly enough was made the same year as this. Not a cozy horror movie by any means. "Don't Answer The Phone is a sadistic, bizarre, totally thought-out study in psychotic madness. A movie like this wouldn't / couldn't be made today. Available as part of Rhino's "Horrible Horror Vol. 2" box set of Crown International films.
Here's the July-August Weird Wednesday lineup. I recommend Psych-Out by Richard Rush and O.C. and Stiggs by Robert Altman. They're both amazing. Weird Wednesday Line-up
This movie was made by the director of the late-70's cult hit I Spit On Your Grave. This was his second and last film as a director. This film gets mostly a bad rep due to it's unresolved plot. It's based around a guy who cheats on his wife with a bellydancer after helping her escape the clutches of a fat perv who's trying to rape her. The guy works for his wife's two brothers at their junkyard. When they find out about him cheating on their sister they beat his ass (a lot). The brothers also trash the bellydancer's apartment and the sister comes with them. This is when a great scene happens where the sister accidentally cuts the bellydancer's hand and the bellydancer says in an unexcited, totally deadpan voice- "Get out of here". It's so weird. The ending is hilarious and amazing and makes no sense. Just like life. Available at I Luv in the action section.
I've been to busy to write lately. Actually I still am. I just thought I'd update you on what I've watched the past few weeks.
Blood Freak (1972) Dir. Brad F. Grinter
Yeah, a lot of you may already have seen this recently because I think the Alamo showed it not that long ago. But in case you haven't, you can rent it. Something Weird Video released it on DVD recently. This movie is about a guy who smokes weed then has seizures that lead to him transforming into a turkey. I know that sounds incredibly silly, but it's kind of done in a serious way that makes it demented. It fuckin' came on TCM the other night at 2:00 AM. Can you believe that shit!? Insane.
Spellcaster (1992) Dir. Rafal Zielinski
Pretty typical early-90's haunted house trash featuring Adam Ant.
Couldn't find the trailer, so here's an Adam Ant video.
The Wild Life (1984) Dir. Art Linson
Here's Chris Penn trying to do what his brother did better. This movie coined the dude-phrase "It's Casual". I remember my older brother and his friends saying this a lot. It features a clean-cut Eric Stoltz hot off the heels of some breakthrough performances in "Surf II" and "Makin' It". He plays a total square in this one.
The Punisher (1989) Dir. Mark Goldblatt
Dolph Lundgren is really good in this. This movie is awesome.
TC2000 (1993) Dir. T.J. Scott
This movie is rogueish and features Billy "Tae Bo" Banks and Bolo Yeung. There's basically a lot of beatings and unintentionally funny shit happening at all times.
The Stone Killer (1973) Dir. Michael Winner
A fantastic early 70's Bronson movie. It starts off in New York and ends up in L.A. It has a fast pace, good music by Roy Budd, great scenery, and tons of insane action and car chases. Shit, this movie has Stuart Margolin in it! It's got a little bit of everything going for it. Only on VHS I think.
Here's a fucked up scene:
The Initiation (1984) Dir. Larry Stewart
Great early-80's horror trash that used to come on TV when I was a kid. Sorority house pledge night gone bad with tripped-out nightmare sequences and a maniac killer. What more can you ask for?
Hellhole (1985) Dir. Pierre De Moro
A weird, sadistic mid-80's trash-fest starring Mary Woronov as a crazed doctor who injects women prisoners with high doses of experimental narcotics. Lots of running around and screaming in this dismal wrong-bomb. I kind of like it's weird heavy metal video vibe too.
Maniac Cop 2 (1990) Dir. William Lustig
Out of control sequel. If the begining robbery scene of this movie doesn't hook you, then you've got ADD. Maniac Cop joins forces with a really amped-up serial killer weirdo who ends up being a Maniac Cop groupie! They go kill together and even release inmates from a prison! The apartment that the serial killer has is awesome. You get to see flashback scenes of how Maniac Cop got his scarred look. It's great.
When I was 6 years old I started taking Karate classes at Santamaria's in Killeen. I saw Chuck Norris there. I had a polaroid taken with him. My parents took me out of Karate classes after I started showing a lack of interest 'cause that shit was expensive. This was around '83 or '84. Chuck Norris was about to do the Missing In Action movie around this time. I have always liked most of the early Chuck Norris movies. Most of my friends made fun of them, but I didn't give a fuck. Me and my friend Kevin were WAY into them. One time, he was like- "Chuck Norris movies are always good". Not too many people would say that out loud, but my friend was being serious when he said that, and that's kind of bad-ass. Whenever I see Chuck Norris movies nowadays Kevin's endorsement always rings in my mind. It's kind of what prompted me to go on a Norris-renting spree over the last couple of months. Here's some that I like a lot.
Future Kill is a movie that I watched when it first came out on VHS. At the time I had no idea that two of the people from Texas Chainsaw Massacre were in it. Ed Neal (the crazy hitchiker brother of Leatherface) plays Splatter, the armored bad guy who kills most things in his path. He shoots drugs and calls people "stupid fuckin' bitches". Marilyn Burns (the girl who survives in Texas Chainsaw) plays Dorothy Grim, the lady who helps the frat boys elude the rogueish street gangs. There's really no point to this movie. Just people running around with eye makeup on in alleyways. There's drugs, random stabbings, street trash, and punk music (including a song from the Big Boys on the soundtrack). This movie was shot in Austin, TX in 1983 / 1984. It's odd to see what the city looked like back then. Red River looks like a ghost town. One scene is shot at The old Ritz on 6th St. (which is now the Alamo Drafthouse Theater), a punk band is playing while people get stabbed in the back of the head. It's weird to think that this was made 25 years ago. Terrifying actually. Available at I Luv Video on Airport on VHS.
Do you remember discovering the Sho Kosugi ninja movies in the 80's? If you don't, you missed out, but here's your chance to catch up. The first was Enter The Ninja, starring the great Italian actor Franco Nero as the white ninja. Sho Kosugi actually plays the bad ninja in this movie. It's a classic, but probably not as action-packed as the next two to come. Revenge Of The Ninja came next and packed a serious punch with the action movie fans. It was way more violent and fast-paced. The ninja fight scenes were more original and filmed better. By the time the third installation was conceived, the ante had been upped and we needed something crazy to keep our interest in the series. Ninja III: The Domination was just what the doctor ordred. It's about the white girl from the "Breakin" movies getting possessed by an evil grey ninja who went crazy killing a bunch of rich people at a golf course. This film plays like a great 70's Marvel comic book. There's a surreal sex scene involving a can of hot n' spicy V8 juice that's semi-nauseating but great. All of the supernatural posession scenes are great, kind of like The Exorcist mixed with an old episode of Kung Fu. This was originally released by Cannon and is only available on VHS at I Luv Video on Airport.
