10.22.2011

That thing I'm doing, some part of it... yeah...

Jeez, it's 2 a.m., I'm an idiot!  Here's another un-edited dump o' reviews so I can get to bed.  Have a good weekend, all!

Woman Eater, The (B&W, 1958) Mad Dr. Moran believes the sap of a rare Amazonian tree he keeps in his lab can bring the dead back to life, but the only way to get it to produce sap is to feed girls to it.  A guy who's trying to pick up a carnival girl gets her fired instead, but manages to get her a housekeeping job...for Dr. Moran.  The doc takes a liking to her and disposes of his previous housekeeper.  He's likely to feed the new girl to the awkward-looking tree (a bunch of furry arms sticking out of a trunk -- the funnest thing about it is figuring out how all the people inside it are standing) but you can probably guess what actually ends up happening.  Deservedly obscure.

Angel, Angel, Down We Go (C, 1969) aka Cult of the Damned  Oddball hippie-era relic in which an overweight, disillusioned rich daughter named Tara Nicole is eager to get laid and break away from her vain mother and secretly-gay father.  She's easy pickings for Bogart, the narcissistic sociopath singer of the band that plays Tara's coming-out party.  Bogart wants to use her to get ahead, and she wants to hang out with the band.  Bogart tries to convince Tara's parents he wants to marry her, but he's after her mother instead.  Tara hangs out with the band (including Roddy McDowall and Lou Rawls) and hallucinates that she's stuck to the ceiling while everybody babbles about society and Bogart absurdly seduces the mom.  The farther the movie goes the more pointlessly nonsensical it becomes until it's nothing but songs and disjointed, self-impressed dialogue.  It leads up to a skydiving accident.  There are some similarities to the Manson family thing, but it's coincidental because this came out first.  Lots of weirdness and crazy 60's filmmaking, but not much to it but quirk.

Book of Stone (C, 1969) aka El Libro de Piedra.  Obscure Mexican masterpiece of creepiness.  A woman named Julia takes a job as a governess to a little girl named Sylvia.  Sylvia's father and stepmother think she's mentally ill, partially because of her obsession with an imaginary friend, a boy named Hugo.  Hugo's actually a statue of a boy holding a big book, located in a swampy area on the family property.  Kindly Julia plays along with Sylvia's fantasies but starts to become disturbed by things about Hugo.  Sylvia names an Austrian town that Hugo supposedly came from, and Julia discovers it existed.  She also learns that Hugo was supposedly a real boy turned to stone by his wizard father, so he could guard a book of black magic.  The stepmother starts having mysterious pains and Julia discovers that Sylvia made a voodoo doll of her.  Once everyone gets wise to the fact that black magic is going on, more sinister things start happening and an extremely-creepy Hugo starts showing up.  Sylvia's godfather tries moving the statue away to end the obsession, but Hugo has no intention of leaving.  Extremely spooky, atmospheric, unjustly-obscure film that seems to have some Mario Bava influence.  Worth the effort to seek out.

Eerie Midnight Horror Show, The (C, 1974) aka L'ossessa, Enter the Devil, The Devil Obsession, The Sexorcist, The Tormented.  Sleazy Italian demonic possession flick in which a pretty young art student named Daniella brings home a life-sized carving of one of the crucified thieves, taken from a church that was deconsecrated because of all the orgies that took place there in centuries past.  The statue comes to life (as demonic-looking Ivan Rassimov, perfectly cast) and has sex with her.  She's left a screaming slut who tries to seduce her father, has visions of being crucified that result in stigmata, and screams and thrashes around whenever in the presence of a priest or crucifix.  Chanting nuns cause her to run through the streets yelling like a lunatic.  A priest tries to exorcise her, but the demon makes her pretty so she can seduce him.  When he still resists, she pukes up what looks like melted lime sherbet and does some more screeching.  Cheap and pretty artless rip-off of The Exorcist,  with some really hilarious dubbed dialogue, but it's weird enough to be creepy in spots and I've always had a soft spot for it. 

No comments:

Post a Comment