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Ad Nauseam: Newsprint Nightmares from the ’70s and ’80s

1984 Publishing, October 5, 2021

Michael Gingold (Author), Joe Dante (Foreword)

Ballyhoo, the art of selling the public something they don’t want, has never changed—but like the devil it has assumed many disguises. In the 19th century small towns were inundated with colorful broadsides, barn-sized murals promoting the arrival of the circus or a traveling vaudeville show. The 20th century made do with the daily newspaper’s theater section—all in black and white but jam-packed with exciting possibilities. Today we have Twitter and your neighbor’s cousin’s friend on Facebook. That’s not exactly progress.

The movie advertisements of a not-too-distant yesterday were called ad mats. They permeated the entertainment sections of the dailies, crammed together side by side like post-war housing developments. They were in close competition for our undivided attention so the artwork was designed to attract—and shock—the most jaundiced soul.

Revenge films have been around for a very long time; one can look to The Virgin Spring (1960), Straw Dogs (1971), or Death Wish (1974) for their rise from serious drama to movies of a more exploitive nature. Psychic Killer (1975) adds a unique twist to the tale by having astral projection as a means to the violent ends. Quirky and laden with creative deaths, it very much embraces its weirdness, providing a fun carpet ride for the whole family (at least according to its mind-boggling PG rating).

Released stateside in December by Avco Embassy Pictures, Psychic Killer, aka The Kirlian Force, only cost $250,000 and came and went like a phantom in the night. Critics paid it no mind either, and it was relegated to video store shelves and gas station rentals. On the surface, that’s understandable; a B cast with a former actor turned fairly unproven B director (Ray Danton – Deathmaster), and...

Back in the early 1970s, when Psychic Killer (also known as The Kirlian Effect) was made, astral projection was a big thing with leftover hippies. The idea was that through focused meditation and careful, thorough training, a person could project their spirit to a place outside of their body, and in some cases witness or influence events on another plane of existence. Now, I'm not a believer in any of this, but it does make a great premise for a movie, and one that writer Greydon Clark and director Ray Danton milked for maximum effect in their film. Arnold Masters (Jim Hutton) is framed for murder and sentenced to an insane asylum. While behind bars, he befriends an old man who teaches him the technique...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

In this episode of Off The Shelf, Ryan and Brian take a look at the new DVD and Blu-ray releases for Tuesday, May 31st 2016.

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Follow-Up Bill and Ted Universe News 88Films: IndieGoGo Scream Factory: The Thing Warner Archive: June Titles Olive Films: August Titles Criterion: Valley of the Dolls Kino Lorber: Daisy Kenyon, Bad Girl, Biggles: Adventures in Time Links to Amazon Blood Bath (Arrow) Christina (Intervision) City of Women (Cohen) Gods Of Egypt (Lionsgate) Horse Money (Cinema Guild) Human Tornado (Vinegar Syndrome) Pride + Prejudice + Zombies Psychic Killer (Vinegar Syndrome) The Terror (Film Detective) Venom (Blue Underground) Wim Wenders: The Road Trilogy (The Criterion Collection)

Also: L’avventura (Criterion UK), The Uninvited (Wild Side Video France)

Credits Ryan Gallagher (Twitter / Website / Wish List) Brian Saur (Twitter / Website / Instagram / Wish List)

Music for the show is from Fatboy Roberts’ Geek Remixed project.

The month of May’s home entertainment releases are ending on a strong note, especially if you’re a purveyor of cult cinema. This week boasts an incredible selection of classic films resurrected on high definition including Blood Bath, Venom, The Terror, Psychic Killer and a 12-movie collection from Film Chest.

Sony Home Entertainment is releasing Pride and Prejudice and Zombies on various formats on May 31st and, for those of you who may have missed it in theaters, Alex Proyas’ Gods of Egypt is also coming home this Tuesday as well.

Blood Bath: 2-Disc Limited Special Edition (Arrow Video, Blu-ray)

The films of Roger Corman are often as well-known for their behind-the-scenes stories as they are the ones unfolding on the screen. He famously made Little Shop of Horrors in just two days using sets left over from A Bucket of Blood and shot The Terror over...

In this episode of Off The Shelf, Ryan and Brian take a look at the new DVD and Blu-ray releases for Tuesday, May 17th 2016.

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Follow-Up A History of Disney Television Animation: volume I Amazon purchases News Criterion August titles Kino Lorber: I The Jury, Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend, The Neptune Factor, Finders Keepers Code Red: Screams of a Winter Night, The Working Girls Scorpion Releasing: Don’t Go In The House, also – Go Tell the Spartans – through Screen Archives Links to Amazon Candy Cop Rock: The Complete Series Dark Passage FitzPatrick Traveltalks: Volume 1 For Men Only / School for Sex Hired To Kill I Saw What You Did Killer Force The Last Command (Masters of Cinema) The Naked Island Too Late for Tears (Flicker Alley) Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? The Witch...

Gorgon Video announced that they’re bringing 1985’s sci-fi cult classic Evils of the Night to DVD on October 14th:

“Full of sex, lasers, synth-pop, feathered hair, bikinis and axe wounds, Evils Of The Night is a pivotal example of Reagan-era teen fantasy fodder. Genre favorites John Carradine, Julie Newmar (TV’s Catwoman) and Tina Louise (Gilligan’s Island) star as a gang of alien scientists who want the life-giving blood supply of horny teens camping out near their secret lab. Veteran Hollywood stars Aldo Ray and Neville Brand (in his final film role) play a pair of bumbling mechanics hired by the extraterrestrials to kidnap the teens for experimentation – with botched and bloody results. Co-starring adult film legends Amber Lynn and Crystal Breeze, and directed by Mardi Rustam (producer of The Psychic Killer and Tobe Hooper’s Eaten Alive), this 1985 sci-fi horror classic features some of the most gruesome...

By Erin Lashley, MoreHorror.com

It takes a lot to shock the average horror junkie, because our favorite films are by definition shocking. Because of the nature of these films, often the most jaw-dropping moments aren't necessarily the goriest ones, but rather the surreal non sequitur scenes that virtually come out of nowhere and just as quickly return there. Sometimes we realize upon repeat viewings that such moments do actually move the plot along. However, sometimes they just can't be explained away.

Bad chop suey, Pieces

In the middle of the film, an undercover cop played by Lynda Day George is walking across the dark college campus following a figure (Bruce Le) who she thinks might be the killer. Suddenly, he turns on her and begins attacking her with kung fu moves.

A student who is helping the cops, Kendall (Ian Sera), appears just as suddenly and stops the attacker,...

She.ll always be best known as Kay Lawrence, the beauty that the Gillman falls in love with the moment he spies her swimming above him in Creature From The Black Lagoon (1954). Mimicking her movements in the water, the Creature performs a lustful underwater mating dance . he.s directly beneath her but she’s unaware of his amorous overtures in the murky depths of the river. It.s a desire most men (and monster kids) could relate to and Julie Adams is the actress who will always be fondly remembered as the .girl in the white one-piece..

Born Betty May Adams and raised near Little Rock Arkansas, Julie was bit by the acting bug early and moved to California to become an actress. She worked as a secretary to support herself and spent her free time taking speech lessons and making the rounds at the various movie studio casting departments.

Y2K hysteria and vicious hillbillies. They go together almost as well as peanut butter and jelly, right? At least that's what director Kenneth Cran is hoping with his latest flick, The Millennium Bug, slated to screen during the 2011 Shriekfest Film Festival in Los Angeles on Friday, September 30th at 10:15 pm at Raleigh Studios (5300 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood).

In The Millennium Bug the normal, "everyday" Haskin family must seek refuge from Y2K hysteria in the isolated forests of the Sierra Diablos Mountains, only to have both madness and terror find them hiding there. Abducted by the vicious Crawford hillbilly clan, the Haskins fight for survival, but neither they nor their abductors can comprehend the monstrous nightmare about to erupt from the bowels of the earth.

Recently Dread Central checked in with Kenneth Cran, the up-and-coming director of The Millennium Bug, and talked with him about the real-life Y2K phenomena that inspired his script,...

Paul Burke was a leading actor from the 1950s and the star of the 1957 horror film The Disembodied. He starred as Tom Maxwell, an author and adventurer who runs afoul of voodoo queen Allison Hayes when he becomes part of a romantic triangle with the queen and her older husband while on an expedition in the deep jungles of Africa.

Burke was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on July 21, 1926, and was the son of boxer Martin Burke. He went to Hollywood in the mid-1940s and studied acting as the Pasadena Playhouse. He began his film career in the early 1950s with small roles in several films including the talking-mule fantasies Francis Goes to West Point (1952) and Francis in the Navy (1955). He moved up to larger roles later in the decade with the voodoo horror film The Disembodied (1957).

He also became a familiar face on television from the 1950s, with...

• Dimension Extreme gave Fango a first look at the cover art for Eden Lake, the killer-youth chiller it releases January 6 with Genius Products. As we previously reported, the disc will include commentary by writer/director James Watkins and a making-of featurette, retailing for $19.97 (with a Blu-ray also coming for $29.95). See Fango #279, on sale in December, for an Eden Lake set visit.

• Ariztical Entertainment revealed to us the full specs for its disc of Gay Bed & Breakfast Of Terror, streeting November 18 (following select theatrical playdates that began this past Friday). Presented in 16x9-enhanced widescreen with stereo sound, the movie will be accompanied by:

• Audio commentary by writer/director Jaymes Thompson, actors Mari Marks and Robert Borzych and postproduction crew Tim Kelley

• Behind-the-scenes featurette

• Fruitcake short film

• Outtakes

• Music video

Retail price is $29.95.

• Media Blasters provided us with cover art (temporary in a couple of cases) and details on a bunch of its winter titles.