The Acid Eaters is a 1968 exploitation film written and directed by David F. Friedman
Buxom skin-goddess Pat Barrington (Mantis in Lace) is just one of THE ACID EATERS, a bunch of 9-to-5 working stiffs who become drug-crazed bikers on the weekend! After Miss Barrington kills a gal pal in catfight and the deceased inexplicably returns as a girlfriend for wacky artist Artie, the group enters a pyramid made of giant LSD sugar cubes (!) which is also the entrance to Hell (!!) where Artie suddenly turns into The Devil (!!!) and everything explodes into one big Acid Orgy...whoa. Easily the Sixties' most insane mix of sexploitation and psychedelia, David F. Friedman's THE ACID EATERS is soooooo out there that even the strongest of minds may become unhinged. - from Something Weird Video
THE ACID EATERS : TRAILER DAVID F. FRIEDMAN BOX OFFICE SPECTACULARS USA 3:04
Too Much, Too Often, is a 1968 sexploitation film writen and directed by Doris Wishman
Take a deep breath, meditate for a few moments to cleanse the mind, make sure there are no sharp objects in the room, strap on a seat belt, and carefully enter the world of Too Much Too Often, yet another slice of unintentional surrealism from The First Lady of Sexploitation, director/producer DORIS WISHMAN (here billed under the name of her then-husband, Louis Silverman). But beware: your mind may never be the same... When swaggering and conceited teddy boy Mike (played by fleshy-faced BUCK STARR) isn’t combing his wavy hair in a stance reminiscent of The Fonz, he’s latching onto each and every female who crosses his slimy path. The guy is bad news and has everybody fooled, except Mr. Dite (rotund BOB ORAN), an advertising executive and recent recipient of Mike’s services as a whip-wielding sadist. Taking advantage of the weak-willed masochist, Mike blackmails Dite into giving him a cushy job, then takes advantage of his new position by stealing Dite’s clients, seducing Dite’s elegant daughter, Sara (JOANNE CUNNINGHAM), and climbing his way up the social ladder. But Dite’s daughter isn’t enough to fill Mike’s sexual appetite and he makes conquests of a parade of women who find him irresistible. There’s Lynn (SHARON KENT), the lovely college coed; Lita, the hooker with a heart of gold; Ellen, the dockside floozie whose husband neglects her; and Midge, the naive secretary who falls for Mike’s lies and unknowingly gives him the information he needs to screw over Dite. He uses all of these women and discards them like old snot rags. And when Lynn tells him she’s pregnant, he proceeds to beat her up. He also slaps Lita around when she doesn’t make her quota, and promptly dumps Midge after she hands over the files he needs. Meanwhile, Dite desperately tries to bribe Mike into leaving his daughter alone and even tells Sara what a sick perv Mike really is, but Sara ignores him and she and Mike plan to elope. Which is when Sam (New York nudie vet SAM STEWART), a detective with a bad foreign accent, enters the scene. Angry that Mike had once-upon-a-time pulverized him and attacked his wife (DARLENE BENNETT in a rare good-girl role), Sam takes his revenge... Director Doris actually used a few different locations to shoot Too Much Too Often (as opposed to her usual apartment), but her quirky trademarks still remain: the convoluted and typically bizarre plot, the strange post-dubbed dialogue put in mouths mostly off-screen, the oddball cutaways to inanimate objects, sexploitation starlets admiring themselves in the mirror; bras, panties, fishnets and spike heels galore; and very expressive feet which share equal screen time with the actors.
Doris Wishman (June 1, 1912, New York City – August 10, 2002, Miami, Florida) was an American film director, screenwriter and independent film producer.Self-taught as a filmmaker, Wishman was noteworthy for her paracinematic, camp aesthetic and is often referred to as "the female Ed Wood." The majority of her work was designed to be released in the American sexploitation film market of the 1960s and '70s. Wishman is also one of the most prolific women film directors in the history of the cinema and in recent years has become the object of a cult following.
TOO MUCH TOO OFTEN : (TRAILER) DORIS WISHMAN (1968) 2:52 USA
Journey to the Seventh Planet was a 1962 science fiction film. It was directed by Sid Pink, written by Pink and Ib Melchior, and shot in Denmark with a budget of only US$75,000. The seventh planet is, of course, Uranus, and a crew is being dispatched there by the United Nations on a mission of space exploration. The film's ideas of astronauts exploring outer space only to confront their inner mindscapes and memories precede the similar-themed Solaris by a full decade (Although the novel Solaris precedes this film by a year). It is also reminiscent of Ray Bradbury's 1948 short story Mars is Heaven! that appeared in the 1950 book The Martian Chronicles.
During their journey to the planet an alien presence briefly assumes control of the crew's minds. They awaken safely but notice that an unexplained long period of time has passed by. Upon landing on Uranus, they find a forested land oddly like our own (rather than the cold, bleak world they were expecting.) This forest is surrounded by a mysterious barrier. One of the crew pushes his arm through the barrier, only to have it frozen. New features and forms begin to appear each time they are imagined by the crew. Soon, however, the crew discover that they have been the victims of mind control by a one-eyed brain living in a cave. The brain plans to possess the astronauts' bodies and have them take it back to Earth where it will implement a plan for global domination. The crew finally outwits the supposedly mind-reading creature From Wikipedia
JOURNEY TO THE SEVENTH PLANET (TRAILER) SID PINK (1962) AIP 2:10 DENMARK
IF YOU LIKE THIS FILM AND WOULD LIKE TO WATCH THE FULL FEATURE CLICK HERE
Mothra (モスラ, Mosura?) is a 1961 monster movie from Toho Studios, directed by genre regular Ishirō Honda with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. It is the kaiju eiga debut of screenwriter Shinichi Sekizawa, whose approach to the genre grew to prominence during the 1960s. The film stars Frankie Sakai, a popular comedian in Japan at the time, and Hiroshi Koizumi, in the first of many academic roles he would adopt in tokusatsu. Jerry Ito (transliterated as "Jelly Ito" in the credits of the U.S. release) stars in the film, his only contribution to Toho's kaiju eiga genre. Ito also appeared in 1958's Japanese/US co-production "The Manster" (a.k.a. "The Split"), and in Toho's 1961 end-of-the-world sci-fi feature "Sekai Daisensou" ("The Last War").
The film did well at the box office but was panned by U.S. critics upon its stateside release as a typical B-grade monster-on-the-loose flick. Its basic plot was recycled in King Kong vs. Godzilla and Mothra vs. Godzilla (1962 and 1964, both also written by Sekizawa), and the daikaiju Mothra would become one of Toho's most popular, appearing in seven more Godzilla films and her own trilogy in the 1990s.
An expedition to an irradiated island brings civilization in contact with a primitive native culture. When one sensationalist entrepreneur tries to exploit the islanders, their ancient deity arises in retaliation. In waters off Infant Island, a presumedly uninhabited site for Rolisican atomic tests, the Daini-Gen'you-Maru is caught and run aground in the turbulence of a typhoon. A rescue party following the storm finds four sailors alive and strangely unafflicted with radiation sickness, which they attribute to the juice provided them by island natives. The story is broken by tenacious reporter Zenichiro (also known as "Bulldog" or "Zen-chan") Fukuda (Sakai) and photographer Michi Hanamura (Kagawa), who infiltrate the hospital examining the survivors.The Rolisican Embassy responds by co-sponsoring a joint Japanese–Rolisican scientific expediction to Infant Island, led by capitalist Clark Nelson (Ito). Also on the expedition are radiation specialist Dr. Harada (Ken Uehara), linguist/anthropologist Shin'ichi Chūjō (Koizumi), and stowaway reporter Fukuda. Chūjō has studied the cultures of islands in the area and ascertained that one of the key hieroglyphs in their written language, a radiant cross-shaped star, translates as Mothra. There the team discover a vast jungle of mutated flora, a fleeting native tribe, and two young women only twelve inches tall (the Peanuts). These "shobijin" (small beauties), as Fukuda dubs them, wish their island to be spared further atomic testing. Acknowledging this message, the team returns and conceals these events from the public. Nelson, however, returns to the island with a crew of henchmen and abducts the girls, gunning down several natives who try to save them. While Nelson profits off a "Secret Fairies Show" in Tokyo featuring the girls singing, both they and the island natives beseech their god Mothra, a giant egg, for help. Fukuda, Hanamura, and Chūjō communicate with the young women via telepathy; they express conviction that Mothra will come to their aid and warn that "good people are sure to be hurt". Meanwhile, Fukuda's newspaper has accused Nelson of holding the girls against their will; Nelson denies the charge and files a libel suit against the paper. Meanwhile, the island egg hatches to reveal a gigantic caterpillar, which begins swimming the Pacific Ocean toward Japan. The caterpillar destroys a cruise ship and survives a napalm attack on a beeline path for Tokyo. The Rolisican Embassy, however, defends Nelson's property rights over the girls, ignoring any connection to the monster.
Mothra finally arrives on the Japanese mainland, impervious to the barrage of weaponry directed at it, ultimately building a cocoon in the ruins of Tokyo Tower. Public feeling turns against Nelson, and he is ordered to release the girls. He flees incognito to Rolisica, where Mothra, newly hatched in an imago form, immediately resumes her search. Police scour New Kirk City for Nelson as Mothra lays waste to the metropolis. Ultimately Nelson is killed in a shootout with police, and the girls are assigned to Chūjō's care. Church bells begin to ring, and sunlight illuminates the cross atop the steeple with radiant beams, reminding Chūjō and Hanamura of Mothra's unique symbol and of the girls' voices. Chūjō hits upon a novel way to attract Mothra to an airport runway. The girls are returned amid salutations of "sayōnara", and Mothra flies back to Infant Island.
Themes
Mothra was the first of the kaiju eiga to distance itself from the genre of horror. Unlike Godzilla (1954), Godzilla Raids Again (1955), and Rodan (1956), thematically and visually darker films full of allegory and scenes of death, Mothra is vibrant, colorful, and at times jovial. Even the scenes of destruction in Mothra are depicted with an air of fantasy: rather unlike actual automobiles, cars and trucks caught in Mothra's gusts are tossed and bounced about the cityscape of New Kirk like leaves in a dust devil. As a daikaiju Mothra is assigned an unprecedented level of personality, imbued as the shobijin's guardian with loyalty and nobility. The film ends not with Mothra's death or incapacitation but with her success at retrieving the shobijin and returning—-in peace and on good terms with Japan—-to Infant Island. The true antagonist of the film is instead the greedy sensationalist Clark Nelson, whose role lends itself to broad interpretation. Fukuda describes him as an "art dealer", of the type who raid historic sites for riches. The film was conceived and released at the outset of the Japanese post-war economic miracle, amid the liberalization of business from government regulation; by placing an (Occidental) capitalist in such a villainous role, the film propounds a strong critique of the Western model of capitalism itself. The ending of the film alludes heavily to Christianity: Mothra's symbol is revealed to bear a likeness to the Christian cross—though it more specifically resembles the Celtic cross—and its image, joined by the sound of ringing church bells, is used to summon Mothra and show her where to land. Remarkably, whereas the propagation of Western capitalism is to blame for Mothra's destructive onslaught, it is Western religion which appeases it.
Rolisica
The fictional nation in the movie is clearly a substitute for America. Rolisica is an amalgam of both America and Russia (USSR at the time). The capital, New Kirk City, which Mothra attacks, shares an uncanny resemblance to that of New York City, specifically in its Manhattan-like skyline. The people of Rolisica are clearly coded as Americans; some were played by Turkish actors. The neighborhood where Nelson is killed seems to have an Eastern Orthodox ambiance, similar to that of Russia; in the uncut version, two priests, one clearly Orthodox, comment that the people can only pray that Mothra will not destroy them. The church bells begin ringing immediately following this speech. The Rolisican flag displays a large crescent moon and small star, reflecting the flag of the Islamic Republic as well as the sickle of the Soviet Union. Roliscan military uniforms, seen in briefly when the Roliscan military lends Japan a weapon to defeat Mothra, resemble those of the Soviet military. The matte scenes that show Rolisican civilians looking at Mothra in the sky were filmed in Los Angeles, California. Toho had done some filming there in early 1961 and the footage added into Mothra.
Mothra was released in the United States in May 1962 on a double-bill with The Three Stooges in Orbit. New York Times film critic A.H. Weiler gave the film a generally positive review, singling out the color and special effects for praise. "There's that color, as pretty as can be, that now and then smites the eye with some genuinely artistic panoramas and décor designs." Some plot points, also, were favorably mentioned: "Fantastic though the plot may be, there are some genuinely penetrating moments, such as the contrast of the approaching terror and those patient, silvery-voiced little 'dolls,' serenely awaiting rescue. Several of the special effects shots are brilliant, such as the sight of a giant cocoon nestling against a large city's power station tower" (in reality, it was Tokyo Tower, a landmark broadcasting tower).
MOTHRA :TRAILER ISHIRO HONDA (1962) TOHO PICTURES 2 MIN JAPAN
Exploitation filmmaker Doris Wishman directed this peculiar black-and-white roughie about the travails of a blushing bride named Meg (Gigi Darlene). After her husband leaves her, she is forced to kill her building's janitor-rapist in self-defense. The panicked Meg flees to New York under an assumed name and picks up a drunken lout who beats her with a belt, then she moves in with a lesbian. As the dragnet tightens, Meg moves to an apartment and is attacked by the landlady's husband and finally ends up working for an elderly woman whose son is the detective assigned to the janitor's murder. Wishman's bizarre film is almost surreal in style, with the requisite circular ending and aimless photography popular in art-house features of the time. Virtually impossible to see for many years, Bad Girls Go to Hell has gained a cult following on videotape for its campy, melodramatic elements and even received some theatrical playdates in the late 1990s. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER MAN is much more dialogue-driven than other roughies Doris Wishman appeared to make around this time. And really, all you have to do is watch the trailer to check out all the sex and violence because there isn't a whole lot that was left out. And as with other early Doris Wishman films, this is another one that was shot without recorded sound so the dubbing afterwards tends to make the movie more funny than what was originally intended. One personally amusing moment for me was in the middle of the movie when Burt suddenly has a dream/flashback and tells the viewers of when and where he first grabbed a certain batch of his call girls. Burt's dubbed voice is hilariously reminiscent of those narrators that you might've heard on Tex Avery's MGM cartoons. Hell, I'd recommend this movie just for that scene alone.
ANOTHER DAY ANOTHER MAN : TRAILER DORIS WISHMAN JURL PRODUCTIONS 2:41 USA
Girl in Trouble is a exploitation film from 1962 written and directed by Brandon Chase
TAMMY CLARK is a Girl in Trouble, a Farmer's Daughter from the sticks who runs off to the Big City in search of "glamour, bright lights, pretty clothes, and excitement" but, instead, becomes a maybe-murderess-lingerie-model-turned-stripper named "Jane Smith" in this fun, shot-in-New-Orleans melodrama-with-titty that's sleazy, nasty, and often downright hilarious!
Miss Clark plays Judy Collins, an All-American Girl-Next-Door in love with Johnny, her high-school sweetheart. But despite Johnny being "everything a girl could ask for," she secretly wants "a taste of life" and, figuring Johnny can wait, runs away from home and "takes her first steps toward destruction!" (Said steps are accompanied by wonderfully overwrought, overwritten narration that makes her "destruction" that much more comical.) Hitching a ride from A Stranger, she awakes from a nap with the guy trying to attack her. They fall out of the car and struggle on the ground until she bonks him on the head with a rock: "I didn't know if he was dead or not! I was past thinking!" Stealing his car, she hightails it into New Orleans, checks into a gloriously crappy flea-bag hotel, and tries to wash the blood off her brassiere — "Would I ever feel clean again?" — only to be spied upon by the creepy old codger that runs the place!
Quickly renting a room in a once-fancy mansion ("Real Charles Adams, ain't it?"), she makes friends with a haggard old hooker who gets her a gig modeling lingerie until — yup! — she gets attacked again! Not understanding the dynamics of cause and effect, our heroine next gets a job as a stripper (with a towering hairdo!) at The Club Flamingo until — oops! — who should enter the dressing room but Johnny.... Since the birth of motion pictures, no plot has been as consistently popular, no story has been so used, reused, and abused, as that of the good girl who falls into the perils of vice and corruption. Be it the innocent girl who's sent to jail, or the sweet young virgin forced to walk the streets, cinema loves girls in trouble! And, truth be told, so do we all, providing, of course, that the girl is really really good and the fall is really really bad. And Girl in Trouble — with its gritty location photography and bonus points for brief (but surprising for 1963) nudity — is yet another excellent exploitation version of the classic tale, made even more entertaining with a character who's as incredibly stupid as she is good, proving once again that stupid good girls getting into trouble is even more perverse fun than ordinary good girls getting into trouble, since it all but forces the viewer to shout at the screen such words of encouragement as, "You idiot," "What the hell is wrong with you," and "Wotta jerk!"
Writer-producer-director "Lee Beale" is actually BRANDON CHASE, a New-Orleans based producer whose credits include Barry Mahon's The Dead One (1961), four for the Morgue (1962), and Alligator (1980). He also ran Group 1 Film Distributors which fed grindhouses such Seventies sleaze as Crash!, Room of Chains, and Jailbait Babysitter. Digitally remastered from the original 35mm negative. — Handsome Harry Archer
GIRL IN TROUBLE (TRAILER) BRANDON CHASE (1963) VANGUARD PRODUCTIONS 2:31 USA
Teaserama is a 1955 burlesque film which is a compilation of several 1950s burlesque acts, so there's no real plot to summarize. There are some strippers, some stand-up comics of the take-my-wife-please variety and cult favorite Betty Page who introduces the acts and frames the film by strutting her stuff.
Even if you don't know the name Bettie Page, you've probably seen her face or its likeness. Her appearance in dozens of pinup magazines and on postcards has ensured her familiarity; her reclusivness later in life cemented her cult status. In Teaserama, Page is the undisputed star of the show and the only reason to watch the proceedings.
Teaserama is hardly a movie in the traditional sense. It's a filmed burlesque show, in which various striptease acts make their way across the stage, punctuated by occasional standup comedy routines. It's not the sort of thing you watch all the way through in a sitting, or even really something modern audiences would call entertainment. Today, Teaserama is merely a curiosity for die-hard Page fans and film buffs.
The movie starts with Page wiggling her assets in the air for a few moments, which is great if you can simply stare at a beautiful woman for minutes on end. Otherwise, you'll be bored to death. This is followed by the headlining act Tempest Storm, who, in an incomprehensible act of striptease weirdness, gets out of bed wearing nearly nothing and then proceeds to get dressed. Huh? Isn't that the opposite of stripping? We were robbed! Actually, this is par for the course in Teaserama -- if you're expecting more than a glimpse of pastie-encrusted teat, you've come to the wrong movie, buster Fortunately, Storm is assisted by (you guessed it) Page in a stereotypically skimpy French maid costume. Page steals the show by being sexier just standing there than Storm is while doing a full jiggle-and-shake routine. At the end of the routine, Page mimics Storm's mincing walk, only to be punished by some awkward hair-pulling. It's not the world's most exciting striptease ever, but it has its amusing moments. Although she was the main attraction of the film at the time, Tempest Storm is mostly a disappointment. However, she does eventually border on bawdy in her third and final act, which wraps up the movie.
The comedy acts which break up the dancing girl bits are of the oldest and lamest kind. You will actually hear the phrase: "Take my wife -- please!" The less said about this, the better, although it does bear mentioning that Joe Ross of Car 54 fame ("Ooh! Ooh!") is one of the comedians. For our continued fascination and edification, we are treated to a pair of Spanish dancers named Peppe and Roccio. If Roccio isn't a man, she's the most masculine Spanish dancer ever to grace the silver screen. And Roccio's not the only female impersonator in Teaserama. Vicki Lynn drops by to assist in the comedy routines and even does a striptease of his/her own. A few more striptease routines are thrown in, but by this point most viewers are probably fast-forwarding to the next "intro" bit in which Bettie slinks across the screen with a name placard, usually pouting that she's not the one getting to do the next number, but always genuinely pleased just to be in front of the camera. We are treated to one more Bettie Page number before the show is over, and then Tempest Storm gives us her best shot before the credits roll. When Bettie wasn't on screen, we found ourselves reflecting on the fact that in the 1950's, men thought nearly-nude women doing calisthenics were extremely
Teenage Mother (a.k.a The Hygiene Story) is a 1967 American exploitation film directed by Jerry Gross and starring Arlene Sue Farber. The film is about teenage pregnancy and hygiene. It was billed as "The film that dares to explain what most parents can't." The film also features a graphic actualization of birth.
TEENAGE MOTHER:
She's a motor-cycle momma! Drugs, hormones and a hot new teacher send local high-school rabble-rousers over the edge in 'Teenage Mother'. See the film that shocked parents across the country, and probably bored the pants off their kids... A campy cautionary tale that's more joke than anything else, but typical for that mid-60's time frame when censors gave one last shot at saving our young'ins from going to hell in a Harley-Davidson heartbeat.
A bad film made watchable by its high level of cheeky camp and melodramatic overacting.
Commercial success came at a price for Lucio Fulci. Films such as the immortal horror epic, The Beyond, Zombie and House by the Cemetery are the titles that generally pop into one’s cranium when discussing the maestro of Italian horror’s long list of horrific journeys into sadism. Many grue-bashers never stop to say a kind word about Italy’s grand man of terror, and it’s mostly because they’ve never seen his work that was done before the name Lucio Fulci became synonymous with extreme. As Dario Argento’s rise to fame was cemented with his style over substance chiller, Suspiria and his legacy living on through his murder mysteries that had come before and after, Fulci’s gialli remained earthed to the general audience. It took a while, but finally Don’t Torture a Duckling and Lizard in a Woman’s Skin were released, finally putting to rest accusations that Lucio Fulci couldn’t work with story alone. But, you don’t know where you're going until you know where you’ve been. Before releasing the terrific mind bender The Psychic (also co-penned with Roberto Gianviti), Severin Films reached all the way back to the one that started it all, Perversion Story, Fulci’s first horror film. It won’t stand up against his classics, but for a rookie, he puts on a good show. Dr. George Dumurrier (Jean Sorel) runs a fledgling medical clinic with his brother, Henry (Alberto de Mendoza). The bill collectors keep calling and the bank account always seems to come up a little short, and not only that but George’s wife, Susan (Marisa Mell) is a terrible asthmatic. George isn’t exactly the poster boy for a good husband, as he spends most of his time cheating with his new ladyfriend, Jane (Elsa Martinelli). His conscience does hold him back somewhat, as he refuses to divorce Susan because of her medical condition. George has to go on a trip to try to attempt to get some financial backing for the clinic, so he leaves a nurse named Betty to look after Susan. She’s frustrated that all his energy goes into the clinic. There’s really no business trip, of course. He’s just going out with Jane again. But, very soon, the well being of his wife won’t matter at all and will benefit him greatly.
While having a good time at a casino with Jane, George is delivered the message that his not so beloved Susan has died. He also finds out that he’ll be reaping the benefits of a two million dollar insurance policy, one that will surely keep the creditors from bothering him day in and day out. The excitement is short lived, however, as he encounters a woman named Monica at a local strip joint who bears an identical resemblance to his now deceased wife. Only the colors of their eyes and hair are different. An investigator also discovers this and before long Monica has been taken into police questioning and George finds himself in the slammer looking at doing a few days in jail, followed by a few minutes in the gas chamber. But, nothing is truly adding up. Although George isn’t the most morally sound person in the world, he doesn’t seem to be capable of murder and there are a lot of other factors painting a picture of deceit. Without question, there’s more than meets the zoomed in eye in Fulci’s first excursion into the world of the gialli.
Perversion Story isn’t one of Lucio Fulci’s weakest efforts (those would consist of movies later on in his career when battling declining health), but it walks along the fine line between mediocre and good. It’s no fault of Fulci’s though, as the film deals out some superb mystery and has your mind asking all sorts of questions. Since the film was made in 1969 and thus so early in the giallo cycle, most stereotypes (many that would be created by Argento in the next few years) aren’t present in this film and truth be told, there really aren’t any main plot related kills (certainly no maniac stalking women of the strip club with a knife grasped tightly in the trademark onyx glove) other than Susan’s at the beginning, one that we don’t even see. And, that’s for good reason because her death is the sun that the story orbits. On one hand, sure, you have a giallo that lacks kills, but on the flipside, the story is set up in such a way that it’s acceptable. It’s tough to come to terms with it, but seeing as the year was 1969 and the big guns hadn’t yet gone off, Perversion Story comes off highly as a thriller with a few morbid touches. It should come as no surprise that Fulci would veer into the undead a decade later after witnessing the ghastly corpse featured in the movie. It turns out to be the only gore featured in the film and rather than looking gnarly like the rotted corpses in the sentimental favorite, Zombie, this cadaver is green, super sickly and stomach churning; you can almost smell the stench it in your own living room based on the visual. As far as pieces to the puzzle go, Fulci peaked with The Psychic and this one remains quite a few steps back from that. Still a very engaging story that will keep your wheels turning until everything is sorted out with an ending that perhaps would have been a lot more interesting had it taken cues from Night of the Living Dead. Those upset with the lack of gore should be informed that the film makes up for it with nudity. There are countless amounts of topless women dancing about the strip joint and a bit of almost lesbianism with actresses Elsa Martinelli and Marisa Mell (who, delightfully, never keeps her clothes on for too long). For the Fulci enthusiast, even in ’69 the maestro was zooming in on the peepers of his actors. Also present is his much more compelling calling card of using mirrors to show actors working off of each other even in the same shot, even when they’re across the room. And if your eyes are on the ball, that’s definitely Lucio Fulci in the police lab handing the detectives a paper. Italian cinema fans should also rejoice as you’re likely to recognize a face or two, with stars playing roles in other genre films such as Seven Blood-Stained Orchids, Short Night of the Glass Dolls along with Fulci’s later and more enjoyable gialli efforts. This release doesn’t come without its controversy. An Italian/Spanish/French co-production, Perversion Story exists in different cuts to please the different markets (and censors). This particular version is the French edit, which consists of much more nudity and slightly less story. Researching the matter, the footage exempt from this release is a tad more insightful to the plot, causing a couple scenes to be edited choppily. The reason behind this is that Severin was only able to find one quality print, and it was of the French version. A composite cut would have been my personal preference, but that may have irked the purists out there. What we are left with is perfectly acceptable, perfectly official and allows Fulci’s followers to finally witness the film also known as One on Top of the Other with a quality presentation.
PERVERSION STORY: TRAILER LUCIO FULCI (1969) 4:19 ITALY/USA
Fiend of Dope Island also released as Whiplash was a lurid men's adventure type motion picture filmed in 1959 and released in 1961. It starred and was co-written by Bruce Bennett and was the final film directed by Nate Watt. It was filmed in Puerto Rico where producer J. Harold Odell had previoulsy filmed his Machete (1958) and Counterplot (1959). Several scenes were censored for the United States release.The film co-stars Tania Velia billed as the "Yugoslavian Bombshell" who had appeared in the July 1959 Playboy and Puerto Rican actor Miguel Ángel Álvarez.
Charlie Davis runs his own island in the Caribbean with a literal whip hand making his income as a marijuana grower, exporter and gunrunner. He hires a female entertainer to amuse the clients of his cantina and himself. Charlie's world falls apart when one of his employees is an undercover narcotics investigator. The trouble escalates to a full native rebellion and shark attack.
FIEND OF DOPE ISLAND NATE WATT (1961) ESSANJAY FILMS 2:30 USA DOWNLOAD / MPEG4 / 47MB
Teenage Tramp is a 1973 exploitation film from 1973 written and directed by Anton Holden and released by Excellum Pictures. This was a popular Grindhouse attraction early that summer.
Kim (ALISHA FONTAINE), a beautiful, blonde teenager, picks up a truck driver (JOHN GARNER) at a crossroads diner, who buys her dinner, gives her a ride and propositions her. Kim agrees. She'll do anything to get where she's going. After two years of drug pushing, using her body and hitchhiking around the country, Kim is returning to the suburban mansion of her unmarried older sister, Hilary (ROBIN LANE), a successful avant-garde art dealer. Hilary has a lover, a young struggling artist named Adam (TONY MASSINA), and when he meets Kim they experience an immediate attraction for each other. Later, Kim takes a nude swim in the pool knowing that Adam is watching. Hilary is outraged. She confronts Adam and in the ensuing argument, Adam decides to leave. When he goes to his room to pack, Kim follows, disrobes and seduces him. In the meantime at a roadhouse a few miles away, a group of spaced-out hippies are waiting for their leader, Maury (DAVID SAWN). Unbeknownst to Kim, Maury has followed her whereabouts. Kim was his former "old lady" and best pusher. Maury plans to punish Kim not only for stealing his drugs to finance her trip to Hilary's but also for running out on him with another guy, Skip (DON JARREL).
The next day Maury and his gang arrive and proceed to take over the house, throwing a wild, nude bash around the pool. Hilary is aghast and orders Maury and his followers to leave. Maury has no intention of doing so and Hilary calls Adam for help. Adam refuses. Terrified by the turn of events, Kim flees to her sister's bedroom looking for a gun. Maury surprises her and tells her he stole the gun the night before. He then slaps her around, strips her and brutally makes love to her. Hysterical, Kim threatens to expose him. Maury lashes back and reveals that he intends to kill Hilary thereby leaving Kim sole heir of the estate and under his control. Intrigued by Hilary's call, Adam suddenly appears at the house. He sees nothing wrong with hippies nakedly having a good time and starts to leave. Kim begs Adam to take her with him. He does. On the way, Kim sobs out Maury's plan to kill Hilary. Adam turns the car around and heads back. Maury succeeds in getting Hilary drunk and starts forcing her to take Seconol and red wine, knowing an overdose will kill her. Adam and Kim return in time to find Hilary on her bed lethally drugged. Adam drags her into the shower to revive her.
With time running out, Maury grabs Kim, heads for a car and forces her to drive him in an attempted getaway. As they ride, Maury gleefully tells Kim his plans for their future together. It is then Kim realizes that she is nothing but a tramp and that life with Maury is and would be a dead end. Determinedly she accelerates the car and it speeds out of control. Maury fights for the wheel. It is too late. The car spins of the highway, crashes and burns, killing them both.
TEENAGE TRAMP (TRAILER) ANTON HOLDEN (1973) EXCELLUM PICTURES 2:15 USA
The Defilers is a 1965 exploitation film written and directed by David F. Friedman
A group of six sexually-explicit and free-wheeling youngsters make a road trip to the beach to frolic in the tide, roll around in the sand and touch each other in various inappropriate ways. A conversation between best friends Carl and Jim leads to the conclusion that girls exist only to give men pleasure and nothing is more important in life than the pursuit of kicks. To demonstrate his devotion to this concept, Carl leaves his girlfriend used and abused in a warehouse basement the next day. With her conquered and out of the way, he moves on to fresher pastures—a young naive actress named Jane—and drags Jamie along for the ride. Together they concoct a plan to kidnap the girl—you know, for kicks—and after watching her parade around naked for an extended period of time, they lure her out of her apartment and trap her in Carl's basement “love dungeon,” where she becomes a sex toy and punching bag for the two brutes. It's not long before Jim's conscience catches up to him and he convinces Carl to let her go—but not before he's had a little fun with her himself. True to character, Carl goes back on his word and opts instead to beat her senseless with a belt. Suddenly a hero, Jim steps up to the plate. The Defilers is a forgotten piece of trash cinema. It easily could have gone the way of the rape-revenge flick (I Spit On Your Grave, Last House On The Left) had they not completely forgone the whole revenge concept. Instead they focused on the supposed redemption of a villain-type character at the last moment, leaving us with an open ending. Not that it matters much either way. Nobody is watching this film for substance. It's filthy fluff, exploitation, a guilty pleasure at best. They're watching this film for the sex and nudity, which is here in spades, albeit in a rather soft-core (by today's standards) light. We've got: skinny dipping, bare ass spankings, rough trade, multiple partners, implied orgies, voyeurism, bubble baths, domination and sexual slavery. Definitely not fun for the entire family. The general tone of this film's subject matter is meant to shock and appall you. The laughable acting and ridiculous lead characters cause you instead to chuckle in spite of yourself, and actually make this a rather sinfully entertaining feature.
Bad...but in a good way. From Midnite Media
THE DEFILERS : (TRAILER) DAVID F FRIEDMAN 1:52 USA
Cannibal Holocaust is a 1980 Italian film directed by Ruggero Deodato from a screenplay by Gianfranco Clerici. Filmed in the Amazon Rainforest and dealing with indigenous tribes, it was cast mostly with United States actors and filmed in English to achieve wider distribution. Francesca Ciardi and Luca Barbareschi were among the leads as native Italian speakers to qualify the film as European for distribution on the Continent.
Cannibal Holocaust achieved notability because its graphic violence aroused controversy. After its premiere in Italy, it was seized by a local magistrate, and Deodato was arrested on obscenity charges. He was charged with making a snuff film, due to rumors that some actors were killed on camera. Although Deodato was later cleared, the film was banned in Italy, the UK, Australia, and several other countries due to its graphic depiction of violence, sexual violence, and the slaughter of six animals. Some nations have since revoked the ban, but the film is still barred in several countries. The critic David Carter suggests the film is a commentary about civilized society.
Filmed in the Amazon Rainforest, the movie tells the story of the search for a documentary film crew who had gone to film indigenous tribes and been missing for two months. A second team, headed by the New York anthropologist Harold Monroe, recovers their lost cans of film and learns their fate. Much of the film is the portrayal of the recovered films' content; the sections of "documentary" film function similarly to a flashback and grows increasingly disturbing as the film progresses.
CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST (TRAILER) RUGGERO DEODATO (1980) 2 MIN ITALY
Dogora or Dagora, the Space Monster, released in Japan as Giant Space Monster Dogora (宇宙大怪獣ドゴラ, Uchū Daikaijū Dogora?), is a tokusatsu science fiction film produced and released by Toho Studios in 1964. It was directed by the "Golden Duo" of director Ishirō Honda and special-effects director Eiji Tsuburaya.
Several satellites are destroyed and only a few days later, a group of diamond thieves find that the gems they stole suddenly disappear. The two incidents are linked as scientists discover giant jellyfish-like creatures, mutated from the high levels of radiation over Japan, are consuming all carbon based matter. The creatures start to attack civilian structures such as bridges and ships. The scientists must find a way to stop the creatures before it is too late.
English Version
As with its release of Attack of the Mushroom People, American International Television bought the rights to Toho's international dub in 1965 for television syndication. Since the film wouldn't play in US theaters, AIP-TV left Toho's English dub intact and added a new Dagora, the Space Monster title card. Allegedly, the name of the monster was changed to "Dagora" so that audiences wouldn't think the monster was a dog. Beyond the removal of the opening credits, the film was unedited. This version played for many years on late night TV and was released on home video by Video Yesteryear in 1983. The Media Blasters DVD uses the same dubbing featured in the AIP-TV version, but the edits, such as they are, are not retained.
THIS IS THE ORIGINAL JAPANESE VERSION OF THIS TRAILER
DOGORA - TRAILER ISHIRO HONDA 1964 TOHO 2:10 JAPAN
Andy Warhol's Frankenstein or Flesh for Frankenstein is a 1973 horror film directed by Paul Morrissey and produced by Andy Warhol, Andrew Braunsberg, Louis Peraino, and Carlo Ponti. Starring Udo Kier, Joe Dallesandro, Monique van Vooren and Arno Juerging, and filmed in the famous Cinecittà by a crew of Italian master filmmakers, Andy Warhol's Frankenstein is suffused with the crumbling glamour of old Italian films, paying homage to (while simultaneously parodying) the earnest and stark visual and psychological beauty of the horror films on which it is based. Morrissey's sense of ironic detachment gives the film a gruesomely comic modernity and beauty all its own. In the United States, the film was marketed as Andy Warhol's Frankenstein, and was presented in the Space-Vision 3-D process in premiere engagements. It was rated X by the MPAA, due to its explicit sexuality and violence. A 3-D version also played in Australia in 1986, along with Blood for Dracula, an obvious pairing. In the seventies a 3-D version played in Stockholm, Sweden. In subsequent US DVD releases, the film was retitled Flesh for Frankenstein, while the original title was used in other regions.
The film was later cut to 93 minutes for an R-rating, thereby increasing its ability to be screened in more theaters. The U.S. DVD releases have utilized the full uncut version, which is now unrated. The film had its television premiere in the United Kingdom on November 17, 2009 and was broadcast in 3D as part of Channel 4's 3D Week. Like Blood for Dracula, made by the same crew and cast, and sharing many of the same sets (a cost-cutting measure first used by Roger Corman), Flesh for Frankenstein is an attempt at using a gothic story to comment on power, knowledge and social order. While many adaptations of Frankenstein portray the doctor as a man whose dedication to science for professional glory take him too far, in Flesh for Frankenstein, the Baron’s interest is more self-absorbed: he seeks to rule the world by creating a new species that will obey him and do his bidding. In the United States, the film was marketed as Andy Warhol's Frankenstein, and was presented in the Space-Vision 3-D process in premiere engagements. It was rated X by the MPAA, due to its explicit sexuality and violence. A 3-D version also played in Australia in 1975, along with Blood for Dracula, an obvious pairing. In the seventies a 3-D version played in Stockholm, Sweden and Australia . In subsequent US DVD releases, the film was retitled Flesh for Frankenstein, while the original title was used in other regions.
Dr. von Frankenstein neglects his duties towards his wife/sister, as he is obsessed with creating a perfect Serbian race to obey his commands, beginning by assembling a perfect male and female from parts of corpses. The doctor's sublimation of his sexual urges by his powerful urge for domination is shown when he utilizes the surgical wounds of his female creation to satisfy his lust. He is dissatisfied with the inadequate reproductive urges of his current male creation, and seeks a head donor with a greater libido; he also repeatedly exhibits an intense interest that the creature's "nasum" (nose) have a correctly Serbian shape. As it happens, a suitably randy farmhand leaving a local brothel along with his sexually repressed friend, brought there in an unsuccessful attempt to dissuade him from entering a monastery, are spotted and waylaid by the doctor and his henchman; mistakenly assuming that the prospective monk is also suitable for stud duty, they take his head for use on the male creature. Not knowing these behind-the-scene details, the farmhand
survives and finds his way to the castle, where he is befriended by the doctor's wife; they form an agreement for him to gratify her unsatisfied carnal appetites. Under the control of the doctor, the male and female creatures are seated for dinner with the castle's residents, but the male creature shows no signs of recognition of his friend as he serves the Baron and his family. The farmhand realizes at this point that something is awry, but himself pretends not to recognize his friend's face until he can investigate further. After a falling out with the doctor's wife, who is merely concerned with her own needs, he is captured by the doctor while snooping in the laboratory; the doctor muses about using his new acquisition to replace the head of his creature, who is still showing no signs of libido. Nevertheless, the doctor's wife/sister is rewarded for betraying the farmhand by being granted use of the creature for erotic purposes, but is killed during a bout of overly vigorous copulation. Meanwhile the jealous henchman repeats the doctor's sexual exploits with the female creature, resulting in her graphic disembowelment. The doctor returns and, enraged, does away with the henchman; when he attempts to have the male creature eliminate the farmhand, however, the remnants of his friend's personality rebel and the doctor is killed instead in gruesome fashion. The creature, believing he is better off dead, then disembowels himself. The doctor's children then enter the laboratory pair up a pair of scalpels and proceed to turn the wheel of the crane that is holding the farmhand in mid-air. It is not clear if the scalpels are there in order to release him, or take over when father left off.
The gruesomeness of the action was intensified in the original release by the use of 3-D, with several dismbowelments being shot from a perspective such that the internal organs are thrust towards the camera.
ANDY WARHOL'S FRANKENSTEIN (TRAILER) PAUL MORRISSEY (1974) BRYANSTON PICTURES 2MIN ITALY
At first hearing, the premise of The Frozen Dead sounds absolutely potty - Nazis are alive and well and living in 1960s Britain, busy trying to perfect a way of bringing back to life a bunch of Ubergruppen-popsicles they put into deep freeze before the fall of Berlin. Unfortunately, every time they try and defrost their on-ice SS buddies, they end up with brain-dead zombies who prove to be absolutely useless at everything. Much mayhem ensues. And yet, despite this film being the companion piece to the definitely certifiable It! (both films were made by Goldstar in 66), The Frozen Dead sadly falls short of expectations. The zombies are a boring bunch, and very little actually happens. Which is a shame. What is good about The Frozen Dead is that it absolutely, and with complete po-faced resolution, refuses to be a campy late 60s period piece, instead coming across as a US-style mad scientist flick. There's no intentional humour in this film, although the unintentional stuff comes thick and fast. Dana Andrews' Germanian accent, the much-repeated severed arm routine, the whole preposterous idea - all done with faces straighter than the audiences at a Jim Davidson concert. Doctor Norberg (Andrews) is the man busy trying to defrost what remains of the Wermacht, and is also possibly the first "good" mad nazi professor ever committed to celluloid. Quite why he's keeping up the experiments is beyond your reviewer, he doesn't seem all that keen on any of the other Nazis who keep turning up and telling him to get a wriggle on.
Karl is his whip-happy subordinate, who spends much of his time beating the hapless droolers Norberg has so far managed to create. A visit from some other Nazis, keen for him to succeed, explains what's been happening. "Your achievement will mean the revival of 1,500…" they tell him. But he tells them that of the eight he has already revived, "one has not survived… and seven are mental cases!" The only partial "success" is his slap-headed butler, who managed to get trapped in the freezer and was revived by Norberg. But even he's a bit slow now. "To revive a body… I've done that. But to revive a brain…" trailing off with a gleam in his eye, Norberg explains that he's only been able to unlock one memory, which his "subjects" keep re-enacting. His lack of success is hardly surprising when we see exactly how he goes about reviving a frozen person, which involves drilling a whopping great hole in the back of their head, Frankenstein-style. At this moment, Norberg's niece Jean arrives home unexpectedly, college friend Elsa in tow. Before you can say "Nazi hospitality", Karl has taken it upon himself to attack Elsa with a syringe and then got one of the zombies to strangle her to death. The gibbering fool then talks Norberg into using Elsa's head for his next experiment.
The Nazis concoct a typically nefarious scheme to make it look as though Elsa has buggered off of her own accord, using a double dressed in her clothes. As the double gets onto the train, our hero steps off it. It's four-square English chap Doctor Roberts, who's arrived to see what his old pal Norberg has been up to in his sinister underground laboratory. Roberts meets up with Jean (they immediately fail to hit it off, he gives a cracking Ricky Gervais-style look straight to camera), and then wanders down to the lab. Norberg has been careful not to let Jean see what he's been up to, but has no such qualms when it comes to a visit by a fellow man of science.
"To keep a head alive for a long period," Roberts tells him, "that's what I call a real achievement!"
Ignoring the obvious answer to this question which involves creating such a "real achievement" by not lopping the aforementioned melon off in the first place (mad scientists, eh?), Roberts is then shown a wall of arms (that's handy), all of which still have a pulse. Give that man the Nobel Prize For Bugger All. Roberts and Jean (not unsurprisingly) start to become a little closer as time moves on, and Roberts (who's only been given half the story, remember) begins to help Jean unravel just what happened to Elsa, who she fails to believe got on that train (and despite the overwhelming Nazi-created evidence, too). Things begin to get odd now. Jean and Roberts start investigating Elsa's disappearance, which involves some more Nazis who live in the nearby village. Meanwhile, Norberg unveils his latest creation to Roberts - Elsa's head in a box. Jean starts to have dreams about Elsa's head calling to her, and Karl comes to believe that the head is affecting everyone in the house, and will "destroy them all". There's a bit of torture, a bit of murder, and some truly dreadful German accents on show ("Zey zink it voz an accident! Zey do not know he pushed ze flower pot off ze building!") as the whole thing shudders to a halt with what seems like a hundred loose ends left unanswered. The Frozen Dead promises much, but fails to deliver. Unlike It!, where a simple premise gets madder and madder, The Frozen Dead has a grand idea but doesn't really seem to know what to do with it. We're only treated to one rampaging Nazi zombie (as played by Edward Fox, no less), but even he's a bit crap. However, it's worth noting that the "Elsa's head in a box" scenes are incredibly effective, and almost make it worth seeking out the film by themselves. Bathed in an eerie blue light and glaring balefully at her captors, she's the real star of the show. - from British Horror Films
THE FROZEN DEAD (TRAILER) HERBERT J. LEDER (1966) GOLDSTAR PICTURES 1:28 UK
Monster on the Campus (1958) was a black and white, science fiction, horror film, released by Universal Pictures on a low budget. It was also known as Monster in the Night, and Stranger on the Campus. This film was the last of Universal's science fiction monster films released before Island of Terror (1966). The film was directed by Jack Arnold (Creature from the Black Lagoon and The Incredible Shrinking Man) and from a script by David Duncan (The Time Machine).
Professor Donald Blake (The Atomic Submarine's Arthur Franz) is a biology teacher at Dunsfield University. Having convinced the dean of the school to fund the purchase of a rare coelacanth fish, he is thrilled the day it arrives. But as the slowly melting specimen is being unloaded from the delivery truck by student assistant Jimmy (Troy Donahue) and Dr. Blake, Jimmy's German Shepard drinks some of the melt water. Within minutes the dog has turned feral and tries to attack Blake' fiancée Madeline (Joanna Moore). They capture the enraged animal and lock it up, fearful that it might have rabies.
Examining the animal Blake notices it has enlarged teeth and seems to be part wolf. But by the next day the dog is its normal docile self and the big teeth are gone.
Still pondering this, the professor accidentally cuts himself when moving the coelacanth and gets some of the melt water in the wound. Suddenly woozy he asks to be driven home by his friend Molly (Helen Westcott), a lady who has been trying unsuccessfully to win Blake's heart for years. Soon after helping him stumble into his home she is attacked by some beast in his living room. When her mauled body is found hanging in a tree behind the house near an unconscious Dr. Blake, the cops start to wonder.
Bloody elongated fingerprints at the scene are definitely not the prof's so they eliminate him as a suspect. Since the violence happened in his home the police conclude that he is in danger from the attacker, and a 24-hour watch is placed on him.
A few days later Jimmy and Blake notice a dragonfly land on the decaying coelacanth. They are stunned when, only moments later, a monstrously large insect similar to a dragonfly attacks them. At the sight of this creature many times the size of any modern insect, the doctor begins to suspect the terrible truth. But obviously the slow turning wheels are just now grinding into gear and it takes another accidental 'Hulk-out' before he's sure of what's occurring. Transforming into a hideous evolutionary throwback, Blake trashes his lab, runs out into the night and kills the cop working surveillance on the campus. Ape-like footprints found around the dead body make the police sure they are after a freak; Blake is convinced that any living thing in contact with the fish plasma will devolve into a raging beast.
After failing to sway the police or his own academic colleagues to his theory he decides to produce proof by getting a picture of the transformation. To do this he sets himself up in a cabin well off the beaten track and like so many movie men of science, he tests his wild theory on himself by injecting the fish juice into his own veins. Even though he tries to make sure no one is harmed this time, his not-so-carefully laid plan backfires and another corpse is added to the tally. Wracked by guilt, Dr. Blake decides he has to answer for these deaths and sets the scene for the police so that they'll have to believe him.
Proof that not even Jack Arnold could hit one out of the park every time, Monster on the Campus is easily the least of his genre credits. That doesn't mean it's a completely bad movie, but after the heights reached by Creature from the Black Lagoon, Tarantula and The Incredible Shrinking Man this has to look like a step down. But while never reaching the level of those movies, MOTC still holds real pleasures. Yeah, it's a little silly, the monster makeup leaves a lot to be desired, and Dr. Blake is incredibly slow to figure out the obvious. But it's a fun film with a game cast, some nice character interplay and a brevity that helps it slide past some nagging questions.
The film's main mistake was probably the giant dragonfly, which looks terrible — the DVD's wonderfully clean print reveals every trick used to bring it to 'life'. Or maybe it's the hysterical fact that the doctor's second transformation is AGAIN accidental, and still causes me to say out loud on each viewing, "Watch out, Doc! You're smoking coelacanth!"
But even this absurdity isn't too much for a die hard '50s monster film fan like me. Over the years I've returned to this flawed little mess repeatedly just to soak up the 1950s atmosphere and straightfaced nuttiness. I even get a chuckle or two out of the police detective's attempts to shoehorn normal ideas about the crime into the scenario. And the movie boasts some effectively eerie shots, including the sight of Molly's body hanging from a tree by its hair.
Of course, as an old Marvel comics fan I also get a laugh out of Dr. Don Blake being The Mighty Thor's alter ego, so clearly I'm pretty easy to please. - Rod Barnett
MONSTER ON CAMPUS - TRAILER JACK ARNOLD (1958) UNVIVERSAL INTERNATIONAL PICTURES 1:42 USA
Thunderbirds Are Go is a 1966 British science-fiction film based on Thunderbirds, a 1960s television series starring marionette puppets and featuring scale model effects in a filming process dubbed "Supermarionation". Written by Thunderbirds creators Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, directed by David Lane and produced by AP Films, Thunderbirds Are Go develops the franchise with a plot focusing on the futuristic spacecraft Zero-X and its manned mission to Mars. When Zero-X suffers a mechanical failure during re-entry, it is up to International Rescue, with the aid of the Thunderbird machines, to save the astronauts onboard before the spacecraft is obliterated in a crash landing. Filmed from March to June 1966 and premiering in December,Thunderbirds Are Go includes, in a first for an AP Films production, cameo appearances from puppets of real-life celebrities Cliff Richard and The Shadows, who also contributed to the musical score. It is also the first motion picture to have been filmed with an early form of video assist technology known as "Add-a-Vision", and incorporated landscape footage that was shot on location in Portugal. Special effects pieces, produced under the supervision of Derek Meddings and including rocket launch sequences, space shots and a miniature representation of the Martian surface, required six months to complete. Despite positive initial reviews, which praised the film as a well-made cinematic transfer of the Thunderbirds television series, Thunderbirds Are Go soon proved to be a box office failure for the Andersons. The disappointment of this outcome was intensified by the knowledge that Series Two of Thunderbirds would be cut down to six episodes and that AP Films' upcoming television project would be a brand-new series, which would later be titled Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons and screened from 1967. To add to the lukewarm public response, negative critical reception of Thunderbirds Are Go has targeted, besides other aspects, the characterisation of the puppet cast, the running time dedicated to model and effects shots, and the fantasy dream sequence starring Cliff Richard and The Shadows, which has been described as a poor scriptwriting idea on the part of the Andersons. Surprised by the underperformance of Thunderbirds Are Go, the United Artists distributors authorised the production of a sequel. However, Thunderbird 6 received a similarly unenthusiastic response on its release in 1968, and the Thunderbirds franchise was abandoned until the appearance of a reboot, starring live actors, in 2004. Meanwhile, the Zero-X astronauts featured in their own strip in the Anderson-related TV Century 21 comic until 1969.
In 2065, the Zero-X spacecraft launches from Glenn Field as the first attempt at a manned mission to Mars. Unknown to Captain Paul Travers and his crew of two astronauts and two scientists, criminal mastermind The Hood has infiltrated the ship to photograph Zero-X's wing mechanism. When his foot becomes trapped in the hydraulics, The Hood causes a systems failure and Zero-X loses control. While the villain manages to extract his bloodied foot and parachute from the undercarriage, Travers and his crew eject in an escape pod and Zero-X crashes into the ocean before leaving Earth's atmosphere. In 2067, at the conclusion of an investigation into the loss of Zero-X, the Inquiry Board of the Space Exploration Center reaches a verdict of sabotage. In the meantime, a second Mars mission has been planned. Days before the launch of the new Zero-X, International Rescue agrees to a request to organise security in view of the possibility of another sabotage threat. Jeff Tracy dispatches Scott to Glenn Field in Thunderbird 1, while Virgil in Thunderbird 2 and Alan in Thunderbird 3 are assigned to escort Zero-X as it leaves the atmosphere. Posing as a reporter at the pre-launch press conference, Lady Penelope ensures that Travers and the other four crewmembers are delivered St. Christopher brooches. Ostensibly for luck, these are in fact homing devices. The next day, a search for Dr Grant's brooch checks negative. Scott unmasks the man waiting for lift-off onboard Zero-X as The Hood in another of his disguises. The saboteur flees Glenn Field in a car, which Penelope and Parker pursue in FAB1. Transferring to a speedboat, and then a helicopter piloted by an accomplice, The Hood is apparently killed when Parker shoots the aircraft down with the Rolls-Royce's built-in machine gun. Meanwhile, the real Grant is returned to Zero-X and the spacecraft launches without further incident. Mission accomplished, Penelope invites Scott and Virgil to join her at "The Swinging Star", a fashionable nightclub. Landing back on Tracy Island after escorting Zero-X, Alan feels unappreciated when Jeff insists that he remain on standby at base while his brothers spend the night partying. In bed, Alan experiences a surreal dream in which Parker "flies" him and Penelope in FAB1 to a version of The Swinging Star located in space. Present at the interstellar nightclub are "Cliff Richard Jr" and The Shadows, who perform a song titled "Shooting Star" and an instrumental, "Lady Penelope". The dream sequence ends abruptly when Alan plummets from The Swinging Star back to Earth and awakes to discover he has fallen out of bed.
After a six-week flight, the Zero-X Martian Exploration Vehicle lands on Mars on July 22. While investigating the barren surface, the crew are puzzled to encounter strange rock formations arranged into coils. Space Captain Greg Martin blasts one of the structures with the MEV gun and Dr Pierce prepares to leave the vehicle to collect samples. However, the other formations stir into motion and reveal themselves to be one-eyed "Rock Snakes". Under attack from the extraterrestrials, which are able to shoot fireballs from their "mouths", the Zero-X explorers are forced to effect a premature departure from the Martian surface. Docking with the orbiting command module piloted by Space Navigator Brad Newman, the astronauts start the flight back to Earth. As Zero-X re-enters Earth's atmosphere on September 2, a lifting body launched to assist the controlled descent fails to interface, damaging the escape pod circuit. With Zero-X locked in descent and set to impact Craigsville, Florida,[n 3] Jeff sends out Scott and Brains in Thunderbird 1 and Virgil, Alan and Gordon in Thunderbird 2. Winched into Zero-X's undercarriage, Alan must risk being trapped onboard the spacecraft as Brains advises him on re-routing the damaged escape circuit. With Craigsville evacuated, Alan is left seconds to detach his cable, and Travers and the others eject just in time, before Zero-X crashes spectacularly into Craigsville. Collected by Penelope and Parker in FAB1, Alan is driven to the real Swinging Star and Penelope, joined by the Tracy family, Brains and Tin-Tin, all disguised to conceal their identities, propose a toast to Alan as the "hero of the day".
WATCH THIS TRAILER:
THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO (TRAILER) DAVID LANE (1966) CENTURY 21 PRODUCTIONS 2 MIN UK
