Dr_Gor Blog

Under discussion:

Last House on the Left  (1972)

The Town That Dreaded Sundown  (1976)

   I first saw this one in the theater in 1976 (surprise!) and I have seen it more than a couple times since.   Although considered a "B-movie" it is apparent that the producer and director spent quite a bit of money on this film in the form of some recognizable actors, vintage costumes and sets (including a very believable recreation of the streets and buildings of Texarkana, TX/AR in 1946) and a LOT of vintage cars from that era AND a few pretty good gore effects and stunts.   IMDb and other sources state that this movie is a "semi-documentary" about actual events that occurred in Texarkana in 1946.   Whether it is fact or fiction, it is a pretty disturbing and compelling movie.   Much like  Last House on the Left  ,   The Town That Dreaded Sundown   is a psycho-murder story with some fairly gruesome murders.   Also, much like  Last House ,  this movie featured some intentional humor thrown in, in between the more disturbing bits, to try to lighten the mood a bit.   Most of this humor is provided by the Director, Charles B. Pierce himself, playing an inept Police Officer called "Sparkplug" ...   On the serious side of this movie you have some good, solid acting on the part of the two main leads, Ben Johnson and Andrew Prine, and a STUNNING, if brief, performance by Dawn Wells (Mary Ann from Gilligan's Island) as a victim!   Oh yeah,  the stuntman who plays "The Phantom Killer"  does a respectable job as well.

   Actually, this movie is so great in so many ways it is hard for me to describe it.  Besides the rather excellent performances put in by the actors mentioned above, there were plenty of TERRIBLE performances by "unknown" actors who were woodenly reading their lines off of cue cards.   There were more than a couple pretty cool car-chases/car-stunts using some VERY cool vintage cars from that era.   Drama, Police Procedural, Crime Drama, Action/Adventure, Comedy...   But what makes this one stand out is the stunningly brutal murder scenes, of which there are a few, and the interesting ending...

   This was obviously one of the precursors to the "Slasher Films" of the 1980's.   In fact, when "Jason" made his first actual appearance in  Friday the 13th, Part II ,  he was dressed exactly like the killer from this movie!

   Bottom line...   The Town That Dreaded Sundown  is one of those movies that I don't mind watching over and over again.   And I find it entertaining every time...

                                                                                   < GOR >

Under discussion:

The Black Cat  (1934)

I must take a moment here to mention  The Black Cat  featuring Karloff vs. Lugosi.   This is one of the few films that these two horror icons made together because in real life they actually hated each other!   I think that their very real dislike of each other plays into their acting in this exceptional film.   Young American honeymooners Peter and Joan Allison meet up with Dr. Vitus Werdegast (Lugosi) on a train in Hungary.   Werdegast is returning to his home town after spending several years as a prisoner of war.   When their hotel-bound bus crashes on a mountain road during a storm and Joan is injured the trio, along with Werdegast's menacing servant, are forced to seek shelter in the isolated home of Werdegast's arch-nemesis Hjalmar Poelzig (Karloff).   Poelzig is a Satan worshiping preist who keeps the bodies of his past 'wives' preserved in glass 'coffins' in the basement of his futuristic art-deco house so he can admire their beauty.   It turns out that one of these women was Werdegast's wife and Poelzig's current 'wife' is Werdegasts daughter!   When Poelzig decides he would like to add the lovely Joan to his collection he agrees to play a game of chess against Werdegast to decide the young lady's fate.   Let the fun begin!   This is a great movie that was very risque for it's time and is deffinately worth watching.

                                                                             < GOR

Under discussion:

The Bad Seed  (1956)

The Exorcist  (1973)

The Child  (1976)

Night of the Living Dead  (1968)

Hell of the Living Dead  (1980)

As for  Hell Of The Living Dead  being the worst zombie movie ever made I was sure I could top that one...   The first one that leapt to mind was one I saw several years ago called  The Child ...   I found this one in my collection and rewatched it and I quickly realized one thing...   this is not a bad movie at all!   Working with a bare minimum budget and amateur actors working with terrible dialogue from amateur writers, these guys obviously spent all of their money on the few effective gore effects!   Still, the overall effect is a rather creepy and suspensful zombie movie that was obviously heavily inspired by  NOTLD  with a little bit of  The Exorcist  and  The Bad Seed  thrown in for good measure.   Rosalie Norton is a very pretty and innocent looking young pre-teen girl who lives with her father and older brother in an isolated farmhouse in the northwestern woods.   Their house is next door to an old cemetery where Rosalie likes to hang out at night with her 'friends'.   It would appear that Rosalie, who has some very "Carrie-like" telekenesis powers, has summoned a hoard of flesh hungry zombies from the nearby graveyard to do her bidding!   A few VERY good gore effects such as shots of people with their faces ripped off and a few zombies getting their skulls crushed in with an ax make this one worth watching!   While watching this I couldn't help but get the feeling that with a slightly bigger budget his could have been an A-list, top of the line horror film!   Even with what they had to work with, the filmakers managed to pull of some genuinely creepy imagery and a few good, genuine frights!   Not bad at all!   AND they did it all with a straight face!   No 'camp' here at all!   A pretty darn good movie and recomended by me....