Well, folks, your humble(??) blogger has achieved yet another milestone!
Friday marks the 10th anniversary of this blog. (As to why today, instead of Friday for this post, I have another entry already committed to post on that day, and I didn't want to overwhelm you with multiple posts...)
Back in October of 2015 I came across a blogathon: The Universal Pictures Blogathon.
That blogathon was hosted by Silver Scenes, and it inspired me to
create this blog with the intention of delving into the kind of shock
and schlock of the old drive-in theaters of yesteryear. A daunting task
in itself, I admit, but made even more daunting by the fact that I kept
straying from my original goal.
True, there were plenty of low budget trips into the kind of stuff that both my idol, Joe Bob Briggs,
and I love. But often I would stray into mainstream fare, too (what Joe Bob referred to as "indoor bullstuff"). And
worse, between late 2020 and early 2023 the blog was pretty much in
idle. I managed only 4 posts during that period. Blame it on COVID. But in late 2023, I made an effort to revive it. And this time I have
(mostly) kept to that theme of drive-in shlock.
When I realized that the 10th anniversary of the blog was coming up, I decided, much as I did with the 5th anniversary,
to try to find a suitable set of movies that would exhibit the heart of
the drive-in experience. So, I browsed some pictures of old drive-in
movie newspaper ads to inspire me. Unfortunately, many of the ones that
appealed to me included one movie I had already covered, and I was
loathe to rehash it just to get to the other movie(s).
But finally I
found one that had three new movies for the blog. And after watching
them, I thought they really were meant to be for this anniversary
celebration, given that I am trying to return to cheesy schlock. All
three were released in a landmark year, 1958. The three movies in question, reviewed below, were: Night of the Blood Beast, The Brain Eaters, and The Screaming Skull.
Among the other great classic movies released that year were: The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman, The Blob, The Fly, Frankenstein's Daughter, From Earth to the Moon, I Bury the Living, I Married a Monster from Outer Space, It! Terror from Beyond Space, Missile to the Moon, Queen of Outer Space, The Space Children, Teenage Caveman and War of the Satellites.
You could also add to that list Attack of the Puppet People, Blood of the Vampire, Colossus of New York, The Crawling Eye, Curse of the Faceless Man, Earth vs. The Spider, Frankenstein 1970, The Lost Missile, Macabre, Monster on the Campus, She Demons, Space Master X-7, Terror from the Year 5000, and The Thing That Couldn't Die.
(Oh, yeah... The year also saw the release of A Night to Remember, Auntie Mame, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Damn Yankees, Gigi, I Want to Live!, The Inn of the Sixth Happiness, King Creole, The Last Hurrah, No Time for Sergeants, The Old Man and the Sea, Separate Tables, South Pacific and Teacher's Pet... if you're into that kind of stuff... But you are going to wait a
loooong time if you expect to see most of them being shown at The Midnite Drive-In...)
So
now the management presents you with a triple feature. A trio of
movies that will have you on the edge of your seat. A trilogy of films
that will make your hair stand on end. A trifecta of cinema from Spook
Central. In other words...
An event to give you THE SCREAMING MEE MEES!
The horror genre would be seriously deficient without the efforts of
American International Pictures. Elsewhere on The Midnite Drive-In, I
have given bits and pieces of the history of the company, so I won't
rehash it here. (Feel free to click on "AIP" link in The Greatest Movie Studio of All Time (American International Pictures) section of the home page. You'll find every AIP movie I have reviewed there. Or you could just click that highlighted link in the text above...) All of the movies today were a product of AIP.
Night of the Blood Beast (1958):
Directed by Roger Corman, one of the first things you notice in the credits is it was written by Gene Corman. That's right, the director's brother. Boy, Roger knew how to save money in more ways than one... Along with a newcomer, Martin Varno, who did most of the screenplay credit, this script, which was originally titled Creature from Galaxy 27 went into production in early 1958, with a 7 day shooting schedule and a budget of $68,000.
The film starts out like it might be a science fiction movie as opposed to a horror movie because we get a scene of a rocket ship about to blast off into space. After some fairly cheap special effects during the opening credits (except for the scene where it blasts off from Earth, the ship looks like cartoon drawings, rather than models), the film wastes no time in getting to the meat of the story.
The astronaut, Major John Corcoran, has successfully completed his space launch, but on trying to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere he experiences a malfunction. Neither the rockets nor the emergency chute that would slow down the space ship seem to be working and the rocket crashes to the Earth, killing Corcoran.
At the scene of the crash two fellow scientists inspect the wreckage. They are informed by higher ups to clean up the wreck site, but there are some strange things around. For one, one of the scientists, Donna Bixby (Georgianna Carter) says that the wreck has traces of some strange mud composition. And when other scientists show up, the other scientist who was first on the scene, Dave Randall (Ed Nelson), points out to the newcomers that the hole in the space ship seems to have gotten much larger. (Not to mention the fact that there appears to have been some invisible creature or something moving through the underbrush, unnoticed by either of the first scientists...)
Coming up on the scene are fellow scientists, Dr. Alex Wyman (Tyler McVey), Steve Dunlap (John Baer) and Julie Benson (Angela Greene). Julie has the added interest in the events because she was engaged to be married to Corcoran sometime after his return. Dr. Wyman notices something strange when he examines Corcoran's body. After 3 hours since the crash there is no sign of rigor mortis in Corcoran's body! Wyman says they are going to take Corcoran's body back to the lab to continue his examination.
At the lab Wyman is a bit perplexed. Corcoran's body is almost assuredly dead, but the expected after effects of the deterioration of his body issue is still not there.
Also, all communication with the outside world seems to be stopped. They can't raise HQ or the Air Force or anybody on the short wave radio. While the body is still being examined, with Wyman finding a mysterious scar on Corcoran's body, Dave heads outside to see if he can find a problem with the communications tower. While out there he is attacked by a mysterious creature coming from the nearby woods.
Although Dave survives, things continue to seem to be going wrong at the station. It appears that someone, or something, wants to isolate the station. Both vehicles that could be used to go get help have been disabled somehow. There is a magnetic force field surrounding the area that is the cause of the malfunctions of the radio and the vehicles...
And Corcoran's body continues to act weird. Now it seems like his blood pressure is back to normal for a body that should be alive, not dead. Plus a blood sample taken reveals that it has, not the normal two blood cells, white and red, but a third type of blood cell that seems to be attacking the other two. And there seems to be alien embryos growing inside of him. At this point, most people would probably say there is too much weird s**t going on here and abandon the base, but these are scientists who have more curiosity than prudence in their make-up.
The crew decide that they have to stay at the station and keep watch, but things go drastically wrong. Something kills Wyman, taking Wyman's head, and (apparently), Corcoran's body. (Because, after all, Corcoran is dead, so he couldn't move himself... or...) Well, it turns out that Corcoran has come back to life, which can't happen, but it did. He seems to be normal at first, curious about what is going on. But gradually it becomes apparent that some alien creature has a telepathic communication going on with Corcoran. (OK, so it is science fiction after all..)
The alien finally makes it's appearance and Corcoran pleads with his friends not to kill it. Why? Because the creature is not a threat it only wants to help the human race... (Yeah, so do any number of alien races who supposedly come in peace...) Corcoran (or maybe the alien communicating telepathically through him) tries to plead with his friends to give the alien a chance to explain itself. ("Can't we all just get along?" and all that folderol...)
Well, as it turns out, the plan to "save" the human race is to actually destroy it and replace it with the aliens. Corcoran realizes this and realizes that the only way to stop this plan is to kill himself, and thus the alien embryos inside him.
This is a much better movie than it sounds like, believe me. While there are some parallels that make it seem like it is sponging off of previous better films, such as The Thing from Another World and even Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the film does have a bit more in it than just a cheesy knockoff. To be fair, it wasn't well received, and some reviews are downright scathing. One reviewer claimed that the alien looked "like the San Diego Chicken after it had been tarred and feathered"and another said that it resembled "a human-sized parrot that had been covered in feces"... Ouch.
OK, the alien aside, which admittedly does look kind of ridiculous, the story is pretty good. The creature does resemble a bird man, but that was made necessary because someone in the front office said the original alien's nose looked "too Jewish". The film was not without it's controversy. Martin Varno sued Roger Corman twice over the writing credits. Check out the "WGA arbitration" section of the wikipedia article on the film if you are interested.
Aliens come in all sizes, however, as the next feature will prove.
The Brain Eaters (1958):
"A
few weeks ago Riverdale, Illinois was just another quiet small town.
Then on that Saturday, shortly after midnight, a living nightmare began."
And
with that not so subtle beginning, the movie jumps right in to the meat
of the story. Two men encounter each other and one bumps in to the
other, causing the first man to drop his glass container. Rather than
have a cordial (or maybe not-so-cordial) discussion about the accident, the man carrying
the container starts to beat the crap out of the other man.
The
star and narrator, Glenn (Alan Frost) is traveling with his fiancée,
Elaine (Jody Fair), to meet with his father to share the good news about
his impending wedding. But they get sidetracked. Something odd is going
on up ahead, so the two get out to investigate. While walking through
the woods they come upon a couple of dead animals. But the weirdest
thing is they discover a cone like object that they don't understand.
Elaine asks Glenn "What is it?"
Glenn: I don't know. (Which turns out to be an oft repeated phrase....)
The
curious object becomes a point of interest in Washington. A senator,
Senator Powers (Jack Hill), demands to be apprised of the
situation and takes control of the investigation. One wonders how much
free time the Senator has if he can go off gallivanting around the
country rather than spend time voting in Congress, but this is the
movies, so I guess he can vote on his time off...
So off he
goes to the site, where the scientist of note investigating this object,
Dr. Kettering (Ed Nelson) is finding some intriguing facts. And using
some highly questionable methods to do so. (One of the most ridiculous things he does is fire a gun into the interior of the cone. Seems to me that a qualified scientist would realize that that could result in the bullet ricocheting around and ultimately damaging valuable equipment inside, if not actually ricocheting enough to come back out the opening and hitting HIM...)
Eventually Kettering clambers inside, but doesn't find anything useful. Meanwhile, Glenn's father, who is coincidentally the mayor of the local town of Riverdale, has returned from a disappearance. And he is emotionally unstable. The crew go back to his office to find out what has happened to him. The mayor tries to kill his son and his friends, but he, himself, is killed instead.
After he dies, they inspect the body and find that some parasite has attached itself to the back of his neck. They figure that the parasite had injected some kind of poison that would have eventually killed him if they hadn't shot him. There is something going on with these parasites, but where did they come from?
Eventually they determine that the cone did not come from outer space, but actually came from the interior of the Earth.
Seems these parasites are a remnant from an earlier prehistoric age. They are determined to take over the Earth and bring about an age of peace, and their intentions are good (at least to their way of thinking...) The essence of their takeover and their motives is reminiscent of the typical "red scare" movies of the time. (In other words, mankind is diseased and only the parasites can bring about a new age where everything can be fixed, as long as the populace submits to their rule.) One look at these creatures and you'll get the idea that maybe they need to grow a pair before they try taking over the world...
(No that's not some delicacy from the buffet table at the sushi bar... those are the intelligent parasites...)
Of course, the humans don't want to be controlled by the "saviors" and put up a fight.
Leonard Nimoy (curiously, credited as Leonard "Nemoy") makes an appearance late in the film as Dr. Cole, a scientist who had disappeared 5 years before. He is alive, but he has been controlled now by the parasites. (BTW, you might not recognize him, because he is made up to look like an old man. Only his voice is enough to trigger your recognition.)
The Brain Eaters has one claim to fame in the fact that the producers were sued by Robert A. Heinlein, a science fiction author who found many similarities in the story to his own novel, The Puppet Masters. He got $5,000 dollars in a payoff and one stipulation, that no mention of his name be used in conjunction with the film. A plan to adapt the novel, The Puppet Masters, to the big screen was jettisoned as a result. Although, eventually a film version more true to the original novel would be produced in 1994.
As this film is also only an hour in length (and even that seems a little long considering), it has some entertainment value. The suspense is enough to keep you watching, but it suffers from some pretty subpar acting. There are some familiar faces here however, if you watch the same kinds of movies I do. Joanna Lee, who plays Alice, was also in
Plan 9 from Outer Space, as Tanna, one of the aliens,. Ed Nelson was a frequent actor in many AIP films, including the first movie in this entry
Night of the Blood Beast.
The Screaming Skull (1958):
Frightfest Guide to Ghost Movies, by Axelle Carolyn, lists The Screaming Skull as one of it's 200 "must see" ghost movies. She refers to this one as an "atmospheric, yet unevenly paced" picture.
And, BTW, you can't go wrong if you add the Frightfest Guide series to your reference collection. All of them are not only entertaining in their own right, but excellent go-to guides for the horror genre. As of this writing there are seven books in the series, covering, in order of publication, (with each having "Frightfest Guide to" preceding them) Exploitation Movies, Monster Movies, Ghost Movies, Werewolf Movies, Grindhouse Movies, Vampire Movies and Mad Doctor Movies.
The film opens, in the time honored tradition of such exploitation film makers like William Castle, with a warning:
"The Screaming Skull is a motion picture that reaches it's climax in shocking horror. It's impact is so terrifying that it may have an unforeseen effect... It may kill you! Therefore, it's producers feel they must assure free burial services for anyone who dies of fright while seeing... The Screaming Skull."
And to put an exclamation point on that the camera zooms in on an open coffin with a placard that reads
(BTW, unlike William Castle, who went so far as to actually hiring people to pose as nurses in the lobby to deal with frightened patrons, and even had a real insurance company on hand to sell life insurance policies in case the patron died of fright (Macabre), there is no indication that the producers followed through with any subterfuge of having someone on hand to provide "burial services" to patrons...)
OK, so now that you are well informed and, if you wish to continue on despite that warning I will begin this portion of the review... don't say you weren't warned...
The film opens with newlyweds Eric (John Hudson) and Jenni Whitlock (Peggy Webber) arriving at Eric's estate. Eric is on his second marriage. His late wife, Marian, had died not long after their marriage. The house that Eric and Jenni are now planning to make their newlywed home is barren, because Marian had all the furniture in it moved out in preparation for she and Eric to stock it with new furniture. (Eric apparently never put the old furniture back in after she died...) But he tells Jenni he will bring it all back tomorrow.
Unseen by either is a figure peeking in on the two. This is Mickey (Alex Nicol, who was also the director of the movie), the gardener for the home, who is later revealed to be mentally disabled. Mickey kept up the garden for the two years Eric had been away, and as Eric tells Jenni, he and Marian used to spend hours working in the garden.
The Reverend Snow (Russ Conway) and his wife, only introduced as "Mrs. Snow" (Tony Johnson), show up to greet them. Mickey shows up and Eric introduces him to Jenni. The two visitors each take one of the pair aside, and during the course of discussion it is revealed that Jenni is rich and Eric is barely struggling to keep his head afloat. (And if you don't see what's coming, boy, are you naive...)
Mickey is somewhat reserved in talking or even greeting Jenni, and instead seems to have a longing for the return of Marian. He even talks to a portrait of Marian and asks her to "send them away." Apparently Mickey is still not convinced that Marian is actually gone.
Eric reveals to Mrs. Snow that Marian has had an unhappy past, which included her losing her parents. They had been in a drowning accident. Coincidentally then, that Reverend Snow reveals to Jenny that Marian, too, had been in an accident that resulted in her drowning in a pool on the garden property.
During their first night as newlyweds, Jenni is awakened at night by a weird banging downstairs. When she goes to investigate she finds an open window banging in the wind, but after she closes it she sees a painting of Marian and it startles her.
She tells Eric it looks just like her mother. She confides her fears to Eric, and Eric tells her (implants the idea, that is) that Mickey is up to some shenanigans. He is mentally disabled, after all, and just can't accept the idea that Marian is actually gone.
At least, that's what Eric tries to convince Jenni is going on. Except nothing entirely untoward has even happened yet. Just a window left open, maybe inadvertently, and a leaf from the pond in the house. But that doesn't last for long. Jenni hears strange noises and finds a skull in a cabinet, one that wasn't there the last time she looked.
Eric, ever the loving husband, tries to help her by burning the portrait of Marian with Jenni. But in the ashes Jenni sees a skull. Eric insists that there is no skull. But after Jenni passes out, Eric picks up the "non-existent" skull, and hides it in the pond. At this point, you are probably coming to the conclusion that this is just a cheap cheesy knock off of
Gaslight.
Ah, but friends, this isn't the world of psychological thriller, this is the world of horror. Admittedly, up to this point there is nothing entirely "horror" about the movie, and I admit, by 50 minutes into this 70 minute movie I was getting kind of bored. But as it turns out, Eric was involved in a superficial attempt to scare his newlywed rich wife to death, but someone still blames him for the death of Marian, his previous wife. No, it's not Mickey, who is probably too mentally challenged to even dig up a grave to find a skull.
Nope, and I probably don't need to tell you who is going to enact revenge on Eric, who apparently was responsible for the death of Marian, after all.
Alex Nicol, who played Mickey, chose this script for his first attempt at directing. The script was based on a story by Francis Marion Crawford, which in turn drew it's inspiration from a real legend of a screaming skull. Every review quoted in the Wikipedia article on this film is pretty dismissive of the film. One claimed it was a "truly awful example of drive-in cinema". That may be my opinion for the first 50 minutes of the film, but really. if you can last until that last 15 minutes, I think it improves the film exponentially. Cheesy as it is.
Better yet, just find a copy of it and skip everything up to the point where Jenni tells Eric that Reverend Snow is convinced the skull is real as is going to bring a crew of people onto the property to search for it. (About the 53 minute mark). At that point the movie actually becomes interesting. Eric begins to look for the skull he hid earlier, but now cannot find, and suspects Mickey of having seen him hide it and taking it.
Although much of that last 15 minutes, including the expected attack on Eric by an unknown force, is kind of shoddy, it is still intense enough to garner some interest. Eric, as expected, gets his comeuppance.
Of the three movies in this entry, I think this may be the worst of the three, but still, it's not as bad as
Teenage Zombies...
Well, folks, sleep well.
Quiggy
