The Bloody Pit #200 - FROGS (1972)

 

Today the pond – tomorrow the world! Author Mark Clark returns to the show to talk about the epic (?) animal attack film FROGS (1972). We discuss that genre as well as the ecological horror sub-genre that this movie falls into comfortably. The goal with this episode was to limit ourselves to a single movie as a way to control the conversation, but that did not happen. Listing other 1970’s eco-horror movies leads to a slippery slope that has us spending a little too much time talking about GODZILLA VS THE SMOG MONSTER. There is no reining us in!

We discuss the cast and crew as we examine the film’s rather relaxed pace. Mark lays the blame for most of the film’s faults at the feet of the director and I have a hard time disagreeing. I admit to being shocked at the naked upper lip of Sam Elliot and remain convinced his character’s name is significant in describing his place in the narrative. I mean, when the rich family being besieged by frogs is named Crockett the writers were clearly playing with descriptive nomenclature. Or they were just having a laugh. But the most interesting part of the show has to be Mark’s theory about why the movie is named Frogs instead of after any of the more deadly creatures that assault the humans in the story. He may have something there but it had never occurred to me before.

 

If you have any thoughts on FROGS or any of the other ecological horror movies of the 1970’s thebloodypit@gmail.com is the place to send them. Thank you for listening! 

Video - FROGS (1972) Trailer

Having spent a couple of hours talking about this film I can honestly say my thoughts have changed because of Mark Clark's musings. Don't anyone tell him! 

FROGS (1972) Poster Art and Lobby Cards

Podcast on the way!

 

The Bloody Pit #178 - RATS: NIGHT OF TERROR (1984)

**Word of warning – the first fifty minutes of the show has less than great audio. For some reason a buzzing was on the track and the only way I could eliminate it was to crush some of the less loud portions of the sound out. Sadly, this dropped most of the laughter from the amused ladies in the room and causes the softer ends of some words to be lost as well. I’m sorry about this – I’ll work to make sure it doesn’t happen again.**

I am joined once again by Bobby Hazzard and John Hudson to roll around in Italian sleaze! This time I chose the film and, since I was in a post-apocalypse frame of mind, we end up talking about our first Bruno Mattei film. RATS NIGHT OF TERROR (1984) is probably my favorite of Mattei’s efforts, which some will claim is damning it with faint praise – I can’t disagree. 

We talk about how we first encountered this mad movie and its regular video companion HELL OF THE LIVING DEAD (1980). Tied into that, Hudson notes the strong similarities of this film’s plot to the classic NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968) siege scenario. Other post-apocalypse exploitation movies are used for comparison with this one coming in as a lesser effort in some way but not in others. The portentous ‘Star Wars’ inspired opening voiceover has us trying to square the supposed 225 years ‘After the Bomb’ timeline it provides, but we do have a lot of fun noting that the world ended in 2015. Actress Geretta Geretta has talked about this film on several occasions and we relate a few of her more interesting tales of working in Italian cinema without speaking the language. Other topics include dodging iguanas, buckets of rats and well-done fire stunts complete with some unfortunate animal cruelty. We do eventually end up spoiling the excellent ending, so you have been warned. 

If you have any comments about this film or any other we’ve covered on the show thebloodypit@gmail.com is the place to send them. We thank you for listening and we will do our best to avoid audio problems in the future. 

Review - CYCLONE (1978)

The 1970s in America spawned many troubling things. Stagflation, platform shoes, pet rocks and disco music were all terrible poxes upon the land but Hollywood boasted the most worrisome of all ’70s plagues — the Disaster Movie! And of course, in the wake of the huge Hollywood success of The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno came a host of imitators all trying to find a different catastrophe to work into a screenplay. Earthquakes, tidal waves, tornadoes, avalanches and giant rabbits all made their way to big screens to threaten civilization and B-list actors. It was only a matter of time before a cyclone was deployed to entertain the masses. Enter Mexican exploitation filmmaker René Cardona Jr. with a script ripped from the headlines. No, wait — that was another of his films, Guyana: Cult of the Damned. This movie is simply another low-budget 'epic' for fans of cinema misery. Somehow, I fit that description.

Three groups of people are in the Caribbean at the wrong time. Group A is taking a short sightseeing tour around the islands aboard a glass-bottomed boat. Group B is a crew of professional native fishermen currently down on their monetary luck trying hard to make a big haul. Group C is a mixed bag of travelers and tourists flying to the islands on a chartered plane. When a sudden cyclone sweeps in from the Atlantic all three groups are caught far from land and suffer the consequences (of being in a disaster film). The fishermen have to abandon their sinking vessel for a small dinghy; the glass-bottomed boat runs through all of its fuel just to keep from being swept out to sea, while the plane crashes, killing most of the passengers and crew. The rescue searches begin immediately, with relatives and friends pushing for swift help to locate the missing. Over the course of a few days the three groups of survivors find each other and cluster together on the tour boat. A few fish are pulled from the ocean for food but the limited amount of fresh water soon becomes their main concern. Even with strict rationing it quickly becomes clear that rescue is going to be too late for most to live if something isn't done. When the idea of cannibalism is finally broached it's clear that it may be the only chance they have to survive long enough to be found. So, with the sun beating down on them, sharks circling the boat, a baby about to be born and no help on the horizon, what will they do?

Cyclone isn't a terrible film, although it is fairly dull for the first hour or so. The time spent introducing the players and setting up the situation is routine and slow with only some nice underwater photography to enliven things. Like most disaster films the characters are nothing more than stereotypes sketched in just enough to provide contrast with each other. There's the greedy businessman, the priest, the pregnant woman, the young boy, the stern boat captain, the over-privileged rich bitch, etc. A few of the characters are given a little bit of depth but not too much, as their primary purpose here is to suffer. It's hard to care about any of these folks even if several of the standard movie heart-tugging moments do manage to hit their marks. (I'll give up my water for the pregnant woman!) The priest (Arthur Kennedy) is the voice of moral guidance and has more than enough to say in the eventual debate over eating the dead members of the group. The pregnant couple is blandly endearing and the owner/captain of the boat is slightly interesting but mostly the group remains ciphers. It's only in the last 45 minutes that the movie really comes to life with arguments and anger finally boiling over. These scenes between people pushed to the edge by nature make the desperate quality of events start to feel real. Enough time is spent on the nastier points of how these people survive to make the grittiness seem a straightforward look at circumstances instead of just exploitation — at least most of the time. No matter how realistic or necessary the death of the rich woman's dog might be, it's never going to feel like anything more than a scene contrived to shock the audience.

This being a low budget affair there are some times when the script's reach exceeds its grasp. The storm sequence is only sporadically effective. The reality of the cyclone is pretty shakily displayed and smartly moved past as fast as possible to get to the focus of the tale. It can be hard to film effective displays of raging nature without huge amounts of money but there's no reason to complain here. They seem to have known their limitations and covered them fairly well (even if they lean on the stock footage a little too often). Only the shots of the crashed and sunken airplane really sell the sense of danger the actors are conveying. Of course, the later shark attacks are also pretty unconvincing, as it looks like the beasts are ripping into bags of paint rather than human flesh. Still, this is far from the worst the disaster genre has to offer and though it certainly isn't the best, it's worth seeing for its effective moments.

Apparently this has been released on DVD once before under its alternate U.S. title, Terror Storm. I've not seen that disc but I can't imagine it looks or sounds better than what Synapse offers here. The film is presented in 16x9 enhanced widescreen and is letterboxed at 1.78:1. The nicely effective soundtrack is the original mono processed in Dolby Digital. Showing the usual care expected from Synapse, the DVD is apparently a fully uncut version and is remastered from the original negative. The only disappointment is the lack of extras. The DVD insert has a great two-page essay by David Hayes about Cardona and Cyclone that touches on enough interesting things to make me wish for more information about the man and his trashy movies. And though there is no trailer for Cyclone they've included promos for two of Cardona's other low budget masterworks. And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the great cover artwork. I don't know if this effectively gruesome piece was used as a theatrical poster but it certainly sells the film well.

The Bloody Pit #113 - PRIMAL RAGE (1988)

The late 1980’s were an odd time for Euro-trash exploitation filmmakers. The slasher genre was played out and no other type of horror film was considered a sure bet so, what to do? Why not find a way to somehow piece several sub-genres together to see if, combined, they will make a coherent film and rake in the profits! So they took a little from the animal attack sub-genre with a dash of mad scientist then added in some biting rage zombies and rape-happy frat scumbags to see what would happen. And then they sold it as if it were a slasher film! Madness, thy name is PRIMAL RAGE (1988).

Joining me to talk about this bizarre mixture is Bobby Hazzard who starts things off diving deep into the Claudio Simonetti produced collection of songs that pepper this film. This was released back when a major selling point for a movie was the multi-artist soundtrack album featuring hoped for hit tunes and at times film’s the dialog is often less noticeable than the music. We argue about which song is worse and I sprinkle samples from most of them into the show. You’re welcome/I apologize!

We discuss the film’s ‘rage virus’ and how it, at times, feels a little like a dry run for 28 DAYS LATER (2002). Bobby takes great pleasure in noting the motor vehicles that this film shares with that other Florida-shot Italian-made horror film NIGHTMARE BEACH (1989) made by the same team. We lament the lack of Umberto Lenzi’s directorial touch and wonder about the song this movie shares with a certain Dario Argento film. Of course, we comment on the clothing choices and the odd hairstyles because the 80’s were a dead space for taste and this film is a document of those sad times. My favorite moment in the show is when Bobby rattles off a detailed list of every mad costume he could spot in the chaotic Halloween Party climax. Luckily this entertainingly sleazy, bloody mess moves at a good pace, making talking about it fun.

Let us know what you think about this film or our overlong conversation about it at thebloodypit@gmail.com or over on the show’s FaceBook page. We’d love hear your opinion of this jumbled Italian horror mess.

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What I Watched in August

TOY STORY 4 (2019) is the weakest of the animated series but it’s still an excellent movie. It really only seems less than perfect because of its predecessors. The writers have found another touching and heartfelt tale for these characters that shows that the creators are willing to let the toys grow up in ways similar to how the stories have allowed the kids change. It’s funny, fast, inventive and finds new ways to make the eventual loss of childhood innocence feel like a scary journey worth taking. And the film has a lot of interesting subtext about the importance of imagination to a healthy life. Plus, I would love to see a series of shorts starring the two characters voiced by Key & Peele. That was some hilarious stuff! 

CRAWL (2019) is a throwback to the lean, mean animal attack films of the 1970’s. A hurricane caused flood traps a man under his house and when his daughter arrives to help, things escalate with both of them menaced by alligators. There are a few moments of dodgy CGI and at least one point where I think there is too much physical damage done to a character for them to survive, but it’s a pretty solid small-scale creature feature.

SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK (2019) is based on a series of kid’s books which had me dialing down my expectations. Luckily, the movie does a good job of using well the idea of a book filled with magically real stories. The 1968 setting helps as well with the small-town backdrop adding a Ray Bradbury style touch, at least until the terrifying monsters show up to scare the bejeezus out of the young characters. The movie makes good use of a Halloween setting and well-done practical effects work to amp up the creepiness. Although I enjoyed the film overall, I think it’s missing something that could have pushed it into classic territory. But, I’ll watch it again next October to see if I have a more positive reaction.

The List

20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA (1954) – 8 (rewatch on Blu)
TOY STORY 4 (2019) – 8
FRANKENSTEIN 1970 (1958) – 5 (rewatch on Blu)
THE PROFESSIONALS (1966) – 8
THE MUMMY’S REVENGE (1975) – 8 (rewatch on Blu!)
THE SEA SERPENT (1985) – 4 (Ossorio’s last)
CRAWL (2019) – 6 (animal attack tale - nothing new but well done)
LOS PASAJEROS (1975) – 4 (a.k.a. The Travelers – failed Spanish arthouse w/Naschy)
THE SPIDER WOMAN (1943) – 7 (rewatch of Sherlock Holmes adventure)
LAS ALIMANAS (1977) – 7  (a.k.a. The Vermin – Ossorio crime film)
KEEP WATCHING (2017) – 3 (bad home invasion effort)
TREASURE ISLAND (1934) – 8 (very good version)
BATMAN: HUSH (2019) – 8  (excellent story with a host of villains)
THE GIRL IN THE SPIDER’S WEB (2018)- 4 (well directed but stupidly plotted)
SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK (2019) – 6 (slight but well made)
BILLY THE KID VS DRACULA (1966) – 4 (rewatch on Blu – why do I like this?)
TOMBS OF THE BLIND DEAD (1972) – 9 (rewatch)
AVENGING FORCE (1986) – 4 (dumb, overlong action film)
DEATH WARMED UP (1984) - 3 (terrible New Zealand horror film)
EMBODIMENT OF EVIL (2008) – 8 (rewatch)
THE LOST SKELETON RETURNS AGAIN (2009) – 8 (rewatch on Blu)
DEMONOID (1980) – 6 (interesting possessed hand story)

KONGA (1961) Poster Art & Lobby Cards

KONGA is one of those movies that I love regardless of it's less than excellent level of quality. It has a giant killer ape and that seems to be about all I need sometimes. 

One day I have to read the Steve Ditko comics that this film spawned. I hear that they are much better than their inspiration. 

Swimming with ORCA (1977)

I've avoided ORCA (1977) for decades. The reason for this is that I've been told by many people - critics and regular folk alike - that it is a simply awful movie. The way I first heard about the film was, in fact, because of it's inclusion in one of the famous Medved brothers' books about bad movies. Having long since realized that those particular critics were a little too clueless to be trusted as guides to interesting cinema I have found that many films they derided as crap have become personal favorites. But ORCA has remained a movie that I've avoided except for a chance viewing of a single scene involving Bo Derek's leg. My curiosity has remained low but got a boost after I finally watched JAWS 2 a while back. Jaws rip-offs have suddenly become of interest to me so, I began to seriously think it might be time to give ORCA it's day in court. How bad could it be, right? So when I heard recently about a Blu-ray release in Australia that included a film historian commentary track I leaped at the chance to not only see this legendary bad movie but to listen to someone talk about it as well. Who knows - he might even defend it from it's bad reputation.

Now that I've seen ORCA I can say that - sadly - I have to fall on the Medved side of the opinion scale for this one. That doesn't mean I have to like the Medveds but when they're right, they're right. The movie's central problem is that takes the mistake made by the fourth JAWS film and runs it around like it's sheer brilliance. This film would have you believe that because the brain size of a Killer Whale is large, that it therefore has the reasoning power, emotional responses and desire for vengeance that a human being would have. To demonstrate this we have a male Orca seek bloody revenge on all it holds responsible for the death of it's mate and unborn child. It's at this point in plotting this story that several someones should have stood up and explained how stupid the idea was so that a new avenue of story could be taken. But that did not happen. So, we have a film in which a Killer Whale stalks and murders human beings until it kills all but the last fisherman standing. I'm not kidding. If you were a sane person you might point out that these people could have escaped danger from an ocean dwelling mammal by...... moving away from the shore, maybe. Or not going out onto the water anymore. Taking a job inland someplace. Someplace dry, perhaps. But then we would have no film called ORCA and, to be honest, that would a loss to the world of bad cinema.

Let me be clear - this a terrible film. It's core conceit is so ridiculous that it could never have recovered from it no matter what tricks were tried. To anthropomorphize a whale to the degree this film does is to shove aside any chance of anything being taken seriously. They try their best by hiring some damned good actors and Richard Harris in particular is really giving this stupid idea his best effort. There are a number of scenes in which his acting is exceptional and very affecting. He does everything he can to bring a sense of pathos to his character as he comes to regret his actions and begins to see a (ludicrous) parallel between his life and the male Orca. But the fact that Harris puts so much talent in service of this extremely silly story is kind of sad. It makes the stupidity of the whole affair almost insulting and definitely sad. Like leaving a cake out in the rain.

So, after finally watching this 70's silliness I settled in for the commentary track by Lee Gambin and I'm glad I did. Mr. Gambin brings a film fans' enthusiasm and a film historian's depth of research to bear on this harebrained mess doing his level best to defend it. Interestingly, he doesn't even seem to feel that he has to do all that much to prove his point about the film's qualities and plunges right into reeling off reams of background information about the cast, the crew, the production history and reception of the film with little more than a nod toward those who might dislike the thing. Gambin is a bit of a specialist in Nature Gone Amuck films and his comments show a wide knowledge of the genre that makes for fascinating listening. In fact, he made me wish I could have a few minutes with him to talk more about some specific subjects. I'd like to discuss the obvious missing scenes scattered throughout the film. Clearly, this was meant to be a much longer film before it reached the editing room. Maybe there's a podcast in that?

So, this turns out to be a rare instance in which I enjoyed the commentary for a film more than I enjoyed the film itself. ORCA is a silly, lunk-headed attempt to make a modern Moby Dick story by way of JAWS and it really only served me as an unintentional comedy most of the running time. Great acting can't save a flawed script idea. But Lee Gambin's contribution is what I'll be returning to this Blu-Ray for in the future. He didn't convince me that this is a good film but he did convince me that Gambin's name on a release is a good reason to pick it up.

The Bloody Pit #57 - KILLER FISH (1979)

JAWS rip-offs were all the rage in the late 1970's. If you were a film producer of any ambition at that time the massive financial take of Steven Spielberg's world wide hit drew your attention. You can almost imagine the conversations in which moneymen demanded their own killer fish film, "script be damned!" And most of those rip-off scripts were damned - damned bad! It's easy to point to a couple of genuinely good descendants of JAWS (PIRANHA and ALLIGATOR ) to claim that high quality was more common in this narrow Danger in the Water sub-genre but the list of terrible efforts far outnumber the impressive. Who has good memories of TENTACLES (1977) , UP FROM THE DEPTHS (1979), ORCA (1977), TINTORERA: KILLER SHARK (1977),  BARRACUDA (1978)  or MAKO: THE JAWS OF DEATH (1976) the clear winner in the 'Not Even Trying to Hide Our Intentions' contest? Really - who? If you have some love for TENTACLES we need to know why!

So where does a film like KILLER FISH (1979) fall on this good/bad scale? As always, merit is in the eye of the beholder so allow John Hudson and I take the opportunity to convince you of our clear-eyed vision as we make the case for Antonio Margheriti's entry in the Pissed Off Fish genre. Given the tag line 'The adventure that drags you in, pulls you under and tears you apart!' the film is obviously trading on the allure of deadly fish munching on human flesh to get bums on seats. But this animal attacks tale throws at least two other genres into the mix to keep the story from becoming too predictable. The film begins with a jewel heist set to the tune of dozens of distracting explosions (cue Margheriti miniatures) and eventually slips in a bit of disaster film silliness to keep things off balance (cue embarrassing funnel cloud special effect). The film is packed with tasty humans known mostly from television stardom including Lee Majors, Karen Black and James Franciscus as well as model turned actor (?) Margaux Hemingway and football player turned guest muscle flexor Dan Pastorini. And what the hell is Gary Collins doing in this film? Anyway .....

Join us as we take a look at another Antonio Margheriti film to see where it fits into his long career. Do the Brazilian shooting locations add to the film's charms? Do the jewel thieves adhere to the code of criminal conduct we expect from all screen no-good-niks? Does Margheriti get the chance to work miniatures into the film on multiple occasions? Is the cool bionic sound effect used when Lee Majors makes out with Margaux Hemingway in the shower? Listen and learn! Or watch the film yourself. That's certainly an option.

If you have any comments or suggestions the email address is thebloodypit@gmail.com where we'd be thrilled to get your thoughts. The show has a FaceBook page where updates are occasionally posted so please check that out. Thank you for downloading and listening - and stay out of the water!

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KILLER SNAKES (1974)

After borrowing the DVD of this Hong Kong set Shaw Brothers Production I finally got around to watching it tonight and my God is this a strange film! It's kind of a character story about a social misfit and his odd life. He's a very socially awkward loner who's constantly the victim of bullies, cheating employers, low level criminals and muggers. Constantly harassed in many different ways he is a sad, pitiable creature who seems to have either the worst luck in the world or is without a doubt one of the most put-upon film characters I've ever seen.

Part of his problem seems to stem from an unfortunate childhood incident in which he watched a sadomasochistic sexual encounter between his mother and some man or his mother and his father  - the film doesn't really make it all that clear. This has made his adult view of sexuality somewhat stunted. He does have one romantic focus and that is the only virginal female in the entire story who he fixates on to the exclusion of any other female attention. Anyone who has ever seen a film about this kind of miserable young love knows that this will not end well!

Adding to the fellow's odd nature is the fact that he seems to have an almost supernatural affinity for snakes. He seems to be able to communicate with them and clearly feels absolutely no danger handling every type of snake or reptile that you can think of. Whether it's incredibly venomous cobras or fairly dangerous monitor lizards he seems to have some kind of extrasensory mental rapport with them and, as you might expect, eventually is able to command them to do his bidding. This leads to the expected revenge portion of the film in which a lot of people who have treated him like dirt end up on the receiving end of a lot of poisonous fangs. That might be considered a semi-satisfying section of the story but it's coupled with the nastiest elements that they can throw into a story of this type.

 

So, of course, there's a sleazeball scumbag who desperately wants to have sex with the virginal female and so is slowly pushing her into being a prostitute. The virgin's best female friend - who's already a prostitute - is pushing her in that direction as well because they're just aren't a whole lot of economic opportunities for the young lady. So by the time the inevitable happens and the slithery venomous revenge takes place we all know where this thing is going. It's difficult to feel bad for any of the snake victims as they lead such wretched, self-centered lives but the nastiness of the story also blunts any sympathy we might have for the main character and his romantic fixation. Everyone here is doomed to live out a cheerless, sad existence until the snakes come.  

I can't call this a good film and I can't say that I totally enjoyed watching it but I must admit I was completely fascinated by it. It's chock-full of nudity, sleazy sex, and just a ton of snakes of every type and description. Potential viewers should be warned that a lot - and I mean a lot - of snakes were obviously killed in the making of this film. And I mean in every way that you can think of. There's a scene in which about 8 or 9 are killed by machete and a scene near the end where boxes of them have gasoline poured on them and are set aflame. It's a little nauseating. Adding to my own discomfort with this film are several sections that can only be read as intentional dark humor but in each case it's so off-putting and inappropriate that I began to wonder if that's how the rest of the film was going to play out. But it was not. This is a grim, nasty, mean-spirited little movie and I can't recommend it for most people. If you read this far and it still seems appealing, well, at least you know what you're getting yourself into.