People had a decent number of options for Halloween entertainment in 1950
Click thumbnails for larger versions.
 Halloween Shriek and Shudder Show |
 On Stage, In Person! |
 Midnite Spook and Laugh Show |
 You know, for kids! |
 "Destination Moon" and more! |
WITHOUT WARNING
A.K.A.
IT CAME WITHOUT WARNING
Director: Greydon Clark
1980 Approx. 96 min.
With: Jack Palance, Martin Landau, Cameron Mitchell, Neville Brand, Kevin Hall, Larry Storch, Tarah Nutter, Christopher S. Nelson, Lynn Theel, Darby Hinton, and David Caruso
I originally caught "Without Warning" back in the early '80's on a cool double-bill with "The Incredible Melting Man". Remarkably, this film has managed to hold on to all of it's depth, class, charisma, AND it's ability to entertain. Undeniably, this is no small feat.
An alien game hunter from another galaxy chooses a small country town to be it's hunting grounds. Joe Taylor (Palance) becomes aware of the alien's presence and views this as the chance of a lifetime. Taylor considers himself a most cunning hunter and looks upon the predatory alien's arrival as that which he has always desired. The ultimate hunting challenge.
When the alien's activities begin to cause the rapid decline of the towns population, Taylor, with the help of two young people who's friends were slaughtered by the alien, decides to take immediate action.
The two youths in question, Greg and Sandy (Nelson and Nutter), were initially on a blind date. After the murders of their friends, they decide to stay with Taylor and help kill the vicious interplanetary hunter. Their purpose, to avenge the deaths of their innocent friends and to conveniently save their own asses.
This is an incredibly well done film from beginning to end. For a start, the outdoor scenery is gorgeous. The point of view shots are done extremely well, successfully creating the illusion of walking in the footsteps of the character. The atmosphere is thick and the tightly strung scenes of suspense are of the "Edge of your seat" variety. The early special effects work, courtesy of Greg Cannom, is GREAT! There are only a couple of effects in the film that come across as blatantly phony. These involve the flying versions of the alien hunters parasites (They tend to give you the impression that you're watching an old, stale, hairy pancake sail through the air!). This though, is an infrequent effect and a VERY minor complaint. The close-up versions are impressive, slightly resembling the inter-dimensional jelly-fish creatures seen in Stuart Gordon's "From Beyond", except here they are much more believably handled and therefore convincingly menacing.
Most notable, however, is the fact that this film achieves a depth of character very rarely found in the world of the contemporary lower budgeted horror film.
It's slick look and feel, great soundtrack, and unquestionably impressive cast make this ambitious film impossible to resist.
Since I am on the topic of cast, I'll take this opportunity to mention Martin Landau's over the top performance as Sarge, the town crazy. Landau must have had a blast playing up this disturbed ex-vet who claims that he has always known the alien invasion force would come for them all sooner or later. Palance is equally engaging as the obsessive hunter. For those of you who really enjoy the scenes with Palance and Landau together, I recommend you seek out Jack Shoulder's under-appreciated 1982 film "Alone In The Dark".
Director Greydon Clark obviously cared about making the film well. He must have known he had a good thing on his hands. Apparently, the people behind "Predator" thought so to, know what I mean?
Highly recommended.
-Gorzilla
SATAN'S SLAVE 1976
Directed by Norman J. Warren
Cast - Michael Gough, Candace Glendenning, Martin Potter, Barbara Kellerman
The story takes place in modern day England. Cathrine (Glendenning) goes on a trip, with her parents, to her uncle's house. Just as they arrive the car crashes, and seconds later explodes. Cathrine escapes, but both of her parents die. Uncle Alexander retrieves Cathrine and takes her in. For some odd reason Cathrine has never met Alexander (Gough) or her cousin Stephen (Potter). As the days pass, she's having bizarre visions of women being tortured and murdered. Alexander keeps telling that she's in shock, and generously prescribes pills for her. Meanwhile, Cathrine starts to become sexually involved with Stephen. Unknown to her Stephen is a psychopath who murders women, and Alexander is a necromancer who plans to use her in a satanic ritual to resurrect his dead wife.
SATAN'S SLAVE is a pleasant surprise. It's just about as gory and sleazy as any Italian giallo that I've seen. A guy jumps from a building and his head splatters, a woman gets branded with a hot iron in detail, another woman gets pinned to a door with a large knife through her mouth, but the highlight for me was the guy getting a nail file stuck through his eye! There's several nude scenes, including a few brief shots of the lovely blue eyed Glendenning. Most of the film involves the interaction among the main characters, and just when it starts to get a bit slow, somebody either gets killed or gets naked. Recommended viewing for horror fans looking for a good low budget shocker.
-T.Luster
ZOMBIE ‘90 (1990) 74Min.
Director: Andreas Schnass
Cast: Matthais Kerl, Ralf Hess, Matthias Abbes, and Marc Trinkhaus
Special Fx: Andreas Schnaas
You asked for it and you got it. This is the German equivalent of Redneck Zombies, except for one thing: this movie is actually funny. Everything you ever wanted in a movie is here: cheesy acting, gore galore, and the funniest overdubbed dialogue which sounds like they made up as they went along. There is one dude, a macho-shit doctor, who has the overdubbed voice of a black pimp. Another doctor has a limpwristed overdub.
Complete with mutilated corpses, head shots, chainsaws, penis mutilations, and all kinds of other carnage, this is a great party movie, In Euro-land a plane crash in some forest somehow creates zombies. Two doctors set out to try and dispose of the zombies, but to no avail as they get wasted. This movie is great, for it offers no character development. A bunch of walk-ons show up, pick their nose for a minute and get slaughtered, the way that it ought to be. If you are into senseless stupidity and violence and don’t give a shit about budget or plot, then this is the movie for you.
Best lines: "It’s pretty foggy out here; I wonder if she farted and didn’t tell me." "I love the smell of zombies in the morning." Crazy stuff!
Blood and Guts: A+
Doug Brotherton
