Semiquincentennial Movie Project #16: The Evil Dead

  

 

The Semiquincentennial  Movie Project is an ongoing celebration of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. During the course of this project your humble blogger is choosing a movie a week to represent each of the 50 states in the Union, as well as a movie scheduled for 4th of July weekend that will represent the nation's capitol, Washington D.C. The order of the weekly entries will coincide with the order of each state's entry into the fold (although, not necessarily coinciding with the date of their entry into said fold).

 

Week #16: Tennessee -

 

The state of Tennessee was established on June 1, 1796 

Details about Tennessee:

State bird: mockingbird

State flower: iris

State tree: tulip poplar

Additional historical trivia:

Mountain Dew, which originated in Tennessee, was originally created to mix with whiskey.

Maxwell House Coffee originated in Tennessee.

So did the Moon Pie.

Also cotton candy is from Tennessee. 

And a place in Memphis sells a whopping 12 lb. burger. (You get the idea I'm hungry right now...?)

You can shoot whales from a moving vehicle legally in Tennessee. (think about that for a minute...)

There's a bar/restaurant in Copperhill which sits in two states, Tennessee and Georgia. The part that is in Tennessee can serve alcohol.  The part that is in Georgia cannot.

The trash dumpster was first created in Tennessee. (No word on whether its also the state of the first dumpster fire...) 

Famous people born in Tennessee: Davy Crockett, Estes Kefauver, Reggie White, both of the Allman Brothers, Aretha Franklin, Dolly Parton and Jack Daniel (originator of the famous whiskey). 

The Evil Dead (1981): 

Note: I considered the pictures a bit too intense for use this week. You can check out the movie for yourself. 

At Michigan State University five students decide to take a vacation at a remote cabin in Tennessee. The intrepid explorers consist of Ash (Bruce Campbell), his sister Cheryl (Ellen Sandweiss), his girlfriend Linda (Betsy Baker), Ash's friend Scott (Hal Delrich) and Scott's girlfriend Shelly ( Sarah York).

The film opens as the five travel down the road while searching a map to determine their location. The first indication that something might be amiss is that there is a near collision with a pickup. Scott claims it wasn't his fault, somehow the steering wheel jerked out of his hands. 

The crew then have to cross a bridge that is clearly falling apart, but even though the girls are nervous, the guys insist that it is "solid as a rock". (Of course, it is not...) 

The warning signs that this might not be a good idea after all continue. When they arrive at the cabin (which looks as run down as one of those abandoned farmhouses you see on back country roads), a porch swing is banging against the wall of the cabin, but when Scott retrieves the key to the door, it suddenly stops.

You know, you might as well conclude that these "university students" must have been accepted as charity cases in the halls of higher learning, because everything that happens early on in the movie that would have normal people running for the hills are looked upon as "hmm- that's peculiar..." Like when a basement door flies open of it's own accord.  

The boys go down and find a secret torture chamber (or it looks like one anyway, bones are hanging everywhere). They also find a recording by a professor who was the last resident of the cabin, and a book that is filled with odd drawings and weird writing. They take the recording back upstairs and play it. It is the reminiscences of the professor and his study of a past civilization and his study of their Book of the Dead. The recording has the professor reading verbatim this incantations that (supposedly) will free the demonic spirits. Which, of course, they do.

The rest of the film is a series of "look out, the demons have possessed your friend",  as one by one the members of the group become possessed. The first to succumb to their evil machinations is probably the most graphic as Cheryl goes out to investigate some strange noises and is attacked by the trees. (That is a mild way of describing it. It's pretty disturbing.

Eventually, everyone but Ash ends up being made into a "new creation", so to speak. If you don't already know, there were several sequels to the original, including what I list as one of my favorites in the horror genre Army of Darkness (which is essentially Evil Dead III.) The series did eventually play up the humorous/horror camp aspect that made the rest of the films so enjoyable, but  there is very little of it in this first one. I warn you at the outset that this entry is fairly graphic. 

You want to know how "graphic"? Initially the American theaters refused to show it. It had to get its start showing in European theaters. And even then there were several countries that outright banned it.  When the movie was received in the countries that would deign to show it it had to be trimmed some to pass approval. And eventually it was released in the US, although initially with an X rating. Once again, it turns out that "X" (now call NC-17) was not always meaning some extreme sexual content. "X" was also a rating for extremely violent movies, which is why A Clockwork Orange was originally released with an "X" rating.

This is not a movie you want to watch with impressionable teenagers. Hell, it might not be a movie you want to watch yourself... This movie makes An American Werewolf in London seem like a kiddie movie. 

Believe it or not, however, my research shows that it currently has an 85% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and was well received by the critics at the time. One reviewer, Bob Martin of Fangoria Magazine claimed that it could be " loved, embraced and hailed as a new milestone in graphic horror." I'm not sure how mainstream critics viewed it, although Roger Ebert did praise the "inventive, low-budget film making and intense, kinetic style", although neither he nor Gene Siskel really liked the movie.

The film did make a profit, with a $29 million box office from a $400 budget, thus making it one of the more profitable movies in the low-budget horror genre. Thus, we can see that a sequel (or two) would definitely be in the foreseeable future. Personally I like the sequels a whole lot better, but then I always did prefer a heavy sprinkling of camp and humor in my horror movies. 

Well, folks, that's it for this week. Drive safely. And, point of warning, if you see a sign that says that bridge up ahead is dangerous, take a word from the wise ad just turn around.

Quiggy

    

Semiquincentennial Movie Project #5: The Stepford Wives

 

 

 

The Semiquincentennial  Movie Project is an ongoing celebration of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. During the course of this project your humble blogger is choosing a movie a week to represent each of the 50 states in the Union, as well as a movie scheduled for 4th of July weekend that will represent the nation's capitol, Washington D.C. The order of the weekly entries will coincide with the order of each state's entry into the fold (although, not necessarily coinciding with the date of their entry into said fold).

Week #5: Connecticut-

 

 

The state of Connecticut was established on January 9, 1788. 

Details about Connecticut:

State bird: American robin

State flower: mountain laurel

State tree: white oak

Connecticut is the only state to have an officially designated state composer: Charles Ives. Although every state does have a state song, and some acknowledge the state song composers, none have a "state composer" designation.

Do you get annoyed with that 60 or 70 MPH speed limit? Blame Connecticut as it was the first state to establish a speed limit. Although be glad it progressed over the years. Originally the rural road limit was only 15 MPH... And while on the subject of cars, the first permanent license plate originated here.

Connecticut is the home of the origin of such things as the sewing machine and the Frisbee.

Famous names who claim Connecticut as their birthplace: Katherine Hepburn, Christopher Lloyd, Michael Bolton, P. T. Barnum and our 43rd U.S. President, George W. Bush. 

 

 The Stepford Wives (1975): 

"Something strange is happening in the town of Stepford..." 

You know what the perfect wife would be? Someone who is docile, agreeable, a homebody, doesn't spend too much of hubby's money, in essence, that age-old male chauvinist idea of the perfect woman, whose only purpose is to stay "barefoot and pregnant". And it seems that the men of Stepford, Connecticut, are more lucky than the rest of the world in finding these ideal wives.

The Stepford Wives started out life as a novel by Ira Levin. Levin is the author who gave us Rosemary's Baby, A Kiss Before Dying, Sliver and The Boys from Brazil, all of which were made into great, or at least fairly good movies.  (Some may disagree whether Sliver was any good at all, but I like it...) Levin wrote 7 novels in his career and 6 of them were made into movies. That's 86% of his novel output that is on celluloid. (Eat your heart out, Stephen King). I just wish someone would tackle This Perfect Day, the only one that hasn't been made, and #2 on my list of favorites of his work.

The cache of talent involved doesn't stop with the author, however. The screenplay is credited to William Goldman (The Princess Bride, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,  All the President's Men and Misery, among others.) Of course, director Bryan Forbes rewrote a lot of it, but Goldman's touch is still there. The cast included Katherine Ross in the headliner role of Joana Eberhart, with her husband played by Peter Masterson. (And here's an interesting tidbit. The part of one of their daughters, Kim, was played by Peter Masterson's real daughter, Mary Stuart Masterson, in her film debut.)

Tina Louise (Ginger on Gilligan's Island) and Franklin Cover (Tom Willis on The Jeffersons) were also among the supporting actors in the film. There could have been other big names involved. Diane Keaton, for instance, was approached to be the lead, but turned it down because her analyst didn't like it. (it may be overstated, but I think about at least 50% or more of Hollywood was in some sort of psycho-therapy in the 70's...)  Jean Seberg and Tuesday Weld were also considered.

The movie starts as Joanna Eberhart (Katherine Ross) and her husband, Walter (Peter Masterson) and their two daughters, Kim (Mary Stuart Masterson) and Amy (Ronny Sullivan) prepare to depart from New York City on their way to their new home in Stepford, Connecticut.  The trip is approached with varying degrees of attitude. Walter is enthusiastic about it (at one point he even gushes that "you don't even have to lock your doors in Stepford"). The kids are oblivious, since it's just another day, and probably just thinking about the new friends they'll make.

 

On the other hand, Joanna seems to be having a little apprehension. After all, moving to a small suburb from the hubbub of the big city affects her in more ways than one. For one thing, she is an artist (photographer), and the move will take her away from the artistic word in, say, Greenwich Village, or wherever she happens to do business.

To make things even more disconcerting for her, she finds that most of the women in Stepford are the exact opposite of her: they are more interested in being dedicated housewives, keeping clean kitchens and making exquisite meals, rather than being open to the feminist ideals that Joanna adheres to. And strange things happen; like when Carol Van Sant (Nanette Newman) takes a blow to the head in a traffic accident and Keeps repeating the same thing over and over again.

 

To make matter worse, there is a thriving social club in town, but it is strictly "men only", which is an affront to the radical feminist Joanna. One of things that stands out early in the picture is that Walter seems to be overly eager to cave in to his wife (to use a derogatory term; [expletive deleted]-whipped).

 

But he gradually gets his own backbone upright by joining this men's club, albeit to the objections of Joanna.  Joanna meets a neighbor, Bobbie (Paula Prentiss), who is like her a free-spirited feminist, and the two decide to start their own "women's club". But while Joanna and Bobbie, and another woman in town, Charmaine (Tina Louise), are receptive to the concept, the rest of the women fit into that dedicated housewife category. 

 

Bobbie

Charmaine

 

In fact, at their first meeting, although the feminist sector open up about their feelings on the male-dominated society in Stepford, the housewives delve into what the best product is to keep food from sticking to the pan when baking. (It all comes off like a TV commercial...)

 

Joanna and Bobbie start to get suspicious when Charmaine suddenly turns into one those dedicated housewives. Initially Bobbie thinks there must be something in the water and takes samples to a science lab, but they find it's nothing but ordinary tap water. And then, somewhere along the way, Bobbie also turns into one of those dedicated housewives. Joanna decides she's had enough, and if Walter won't pack up and leave Stepford, then she will take the kids and leave herself. 

 

The roadblock to that occurs when Walter, for some reason, has sent the kids off, so he can have a quiet weekend with Joanna. Since the "quiet weekend with the husband" occurred prior to her friends becoming the "alien" personalities, she gets her hackles up and decides to delve into this mysterious "men's club" meeting house.

 

I'll leave just enough for you to be curious about the ending, although it's a good bet that most of you already know, even if you never have watched the movie. The term "Stepford wife" has insinuated itself into the lexicon far enough that just the basic idea may be in your mind already. 

The film was released in February of 1975. The only real competition for it appears to be Shampoo, a Warren Beatty film that ended up being  the third highest grossing film of the year, making $49 million dollars. The Stepford Wives, although not a "dud", only managed to pull in $4 million dollars. Critical response was generally mediocre. It currently holds a rating of only 55% on Rotten Tomatoes. One critic even stated that the screenplay from the source material was "tedious and padded".

One of the more interesting aspects of it's reception was with the feminist sector of the population. I personally thought that the film had a fairly strong feminist tinge to it, but then, I am a male, and a single male at that, so what do I know? Wikipedia, quoting an article from Entertainment Weekly, says that at one showing to an audience of feminists, it was met with "hisses, groans and guffaws." Betty Friedan, a respected leader of the feminist movement, called it "a rip-off of the women's movement." However, some feminist authors did come to it's defense, and director Bryan Forbes objected to the criticism by claiming that if the message of the movie was anything it's anti-men.

The movie spawned three made-for-TV sequels and, in 2004, a remake starring Nicole Kidman in the Katherine Ross role. Haven't seen that, but I am given to understand it was beneath the original, and only barely made back it's production costs in the theater. 

In my opinion, the 1975 version gets a lot of bad press. I think that Katherine Ross carries the film well, and some of those "transformed" Stepford women give me the creeps, which says a lot about how well they became the docile, subservient women the men of Stepford created. There are also some decent parallels to the classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers, in that sometimes the changes in the "victims" can be so insidious and yet subtle that you just don't realize until it's too late. It doesn't seem to be a coincidence, to me at any rate, that both movies take place in bucolic suburbs rather than in the big city. (Of course, the 1978 remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers did occur in a big city, and as I said in my review of that movie, it's up to you to decide which is a more scary scenario.

The one issue that I had with the movie is that it seems to ignore the children. One wonders how the children responded to the change in Mommy's personality. After all, besides Joanna, I'm sure there must have been some of the others who had had kids prior to their change. What did they think of the new attitude of Mommy?

The Stepford Wives was a much better movie than the remake with Nicole Kidman, that much is certain. Watching Ross and her gradual realization dawn that something is not quite kosher in Stepford is well worth the price of admission. 

Well, that's it for this time folks. Drive safely.

Quiggy

  

Semiquincentennial Movie Project #3: Friday the 13th

 

 

The Semiquincentennial  Movie Project is an ongoing celebration of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. During the course of this project your humble blogger is choosing a movie a week to represent each of the 50 states in the Union, as well as a movie scheduled for 4th of July weekend that will represent the nation's capitol, Washington D.C. The order of the weekly entries will coincide with the order of each state's entry into the fold (although, not necessarily coinciding with the date of their entry into said fold).

 

Week # 3:New Jersey:

 

The state of New Jersey was established on December 18, 1787. 

Details about New Jersey:

State bird: Eastern goldfinch

State flower: Purple violet

State tree: Red oak

The most important thing to remember about New Jersey is this is the place where it all started for people like me (fans of the drive-in theater). If not for a guy in New Jersey, this blog might have ended up being called The Good Ship Lollipop Theater. 

New Jersey has the distinction of being the "diner capital of the world" due to the fact that there are more diners in the state than any other state in the union. Good news for guys like Guy Fieri, host of Food Network's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.

New Jersey is the birthplace of many iconic figures in music and films. Frank Sinatra, Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi were born in New Jersey, as well as Jack Nicholson, Meryl Streep and Michael Douglas. And that's just for a start.. For further interest.

Among other things that New Jersey has a claim to fame is the fact that both New York NFL teams play their home games in New Jersey. Several other sports teams, both major and minor leagues, in other fields that are ostensibly New York teams also play home games in New Jersey.

First a note and an apology: I had originally scheduled The Toxic Avenger to appear as the entry for New Jersey. But, since I had never actually watched it, I was just going with it because of my perceived reputation of the movie. I didn't know it started out the way it did. 10 minutes in I started to regret my decision, and after another 5 minutes I'd had enough. It starts out way too over the line in bad taste. And this opinion from the same blogger who brought you both Midnight Cowboy  AND Myra Breckenridge, A Clockwork Orange, and even Bloodsucking Pharaohs in Pittsburgh... Maybe I'm just getting old.

Friday the 13th (1980): 

(Another note: Once again, as usual, I try to keep images of the gorier scenes  at a minimum to avoid turning off the more prudish readers.)

Dateline: 1958. At Camp Crystal Lake all the children are asleep. The camp counselors are having a sing-a-long, along with the requisite activities you would expect from a group of older adolescents, including two of them who sneak away from the rest of the group to engage in an extracurricular project in which clothing is not required. While engaged in this somewhat illicit act, the pair are stalked by an unseen interloper, who proceeds to kill them both.

Dateline: Present day (1980).  A girl, Annie (Robbie Morgan) comes hiking into town looking for Camp Crystal Lake. She stops at a diner to ask directions and receives not a friendly welcome but some strange looks. She manages to hitch a ride with a trucker, Enos (Rex Everhart), who volunteers to take her up the road. Along the way a crazy townie warns her that she won't be coming back from "Camp Blood" because it's got a death curse. Enos fills her in on more details as he helps her along her way, including the two kids who were killed in 1958, a boy who drowned in 1957 and a bunch of fires. He encourages her to quit now, and not go on, but Annie is not afraid of these "cornball" rumors.

 

On their own way to Crystal Lake are three others; Jack (Kevin Bacon), Ned (Mark Nelson) and  Marcie (Jeannine Taylor). They arrive at the camp where Steve (Peter Brouwer) and Annie (Adrienne King) have already been at work trying to whip the camp into shape for their new campers. Bill (Harry Crosby, son, by the way, of Bing) and Brenda (Laurie Bertram) have also previously arrived and been helping out.

 

Meanwhile, back on the road, Annie is still hitchhiking to the camp. She gets picked up a mysterious figure (whom we don't see) who gives her a ride. Annie realizes that something is amiss when the driver goes by the entrance to the camp and jumps ship (jeep). But she is caught by the driver and slashed. We only see the hands of the figure, not the face. But those hands are definitely male hands... (remember that.) 

 

Steve takes off in his jeep to take care of some business, leaving the five helpers behind to finish their duties. While various shenanigans are going on back at the camp, a motorcycle cop shows up at the camp. He doesn't like these youngsters much, absolutely certain that there are some illicit drugs in the mix, but he warns them about that townie from the beginning of the film, Ralph (Walt Gorney), who has a tendency to believe his own delusions about the camp being cursed. Sure enough, after the officer leaves, Ralph sows up  spouting his doom and gloom. But he seems harmless enough, even if he is a little wacko.

 

It turns out that his doom and gloom speech, that they're all "doomed" is not that far from wrong.  First Ned sees a mysterious stranger enter one of the cabins and goes to investigate. Then Jack and Marcie decide to play a little of the old game "hide the salami". And Alice and Bill and Brenda decide to play a new version of Monopoly called "Strip Monopoly". Yep, you guessed it, the teenagers, being typically 1980's irrepressible and sexually uninhibited teenagers, are getting down and funky.

 

Back at the cabin, Jack and Marcie are making out, unaware that a recently slashed Ned is lying in the bunk above them.  Marcie leaves Jack to go to the outhouse, and guess what... the interloper who dispatched Ned has not left the cabin. Jack is dispatched in short order and the killer goes to the outhouse to look for Marcie, who is also removed from the land of the living.

If you're keeping track, only three people, not including the slasher, are left at the camp. Steve, for his part seems to have decided to stay out for the night. Back at the game, Brenda realizes she may have left the windows open in her cabin, so she exits the game. When she gets back to the cabin she decides just to stay in.     But she hears the cry of a boy calling for help, so like any good citizen she goes back out into the rain. And is taken out by our killer on the archery range.

Alice hears a scream, and she and Bill go to investigate. They find a bloody axe in Brenda's bed, but no Brenda. Their search for Jack and Marcie also proves fruitless.  The generator goes out and Bill goes to check on it leaving Alice alone. A short time later, Bill is also removed from the land of the living. (You notice, by this time, that the only one of the counselors still alive is the one who hasn't been fooling around? What are the filmmakers trying to say? Premarital sex will get you killed?) 

Steve, who has just been getting a bite to eat at the diner in town heads back to the camp. His jeep stalls (I think it's out of gas, Steve), but fortunately a police car comes along (with a far friendlier cop this time), and gives him a lift. Unfortunately before they can get to the gate to the camp the police car is called in on an emergency, leaving Steve to hike the rest of the way. As he approaches the gate, he meets the killer, who dispatches him. But it turns out Steve recognizes his assailant.

 

O.K. It gets a little hairy from here on out. As the sole survivor of this onslaught, Alice begins to panic and barricade the door to the cabin. But when she sees a jeep pull up she thinks it's Steve and rushes out to greet him in grateful thankfulness that there is someone coming to the rescue. It's not Steve however, but Mrs. Voorhees (Betsy Palmer) who claims to be an old friend of the owners. Still, she is a welcome sight to Alice who knows there is some deranged lunatic on the loose in the camp.

 

Spoiler alert! In case you are one of the very few who have never seen the ending, you better stop now. Just in case you don't know what the name of the star killer of this series of films is in the first place.

Mrs. Voorhees reveals that it was her son who was the drowning victim from 20 years ago at the camp. Her son drowned, she feels, because the camp counselors had abandoned their charges to engage in illicit sex instead. Which explains why the killer frowns upon irresponsible sex-obsessed teenagers. And, of course, it is none other than Mrs. Voorhees herself who is exacting revenge for the death or her son, Jason Voorhees.

A huge flight and fight ensues between Alice and Mrs. Voorhees. Of course, the winner of this battle is not Mrs. Voorhees. But there still may be some danger for Alice coming from another source... How did you think they managed to get 10 (so far) sequels (and one reboot) with Jason as the prime evil villain...?

On a budget of only about $500,000, the first movie in the franchise was essentially a blockbuster, pulling in almost $60 million. In the first two weeks of it's release it was #1 at the box office. And as noted in the previous paragraph, Jason became enough of a draw that the character's very name drew enough box office to keep it afloat as a franchise for over 20 years worth of sequels. Of all of the movies put out by Paramount in 1980, only Airplane! grossed more box office money than this one.

As could be expected from that quarter, the critics gave this movie a resounding negative review: "Silly, boring youth-geared horror movie",  "blatant exploitation of the lowest order" and "a shamelessly bad film" are just a hint of the vitriol that the reviewers spewed on it. According to the wikipedia article on the movie, Siskel and Ebert, in their TV movie review, devoted an entire episode to disparaging this and other slasher flicks. 

Obviously the lowbrow audience the movie was intended for reacted to it better than those of the highbrow movie critic board. As far as slasher flicks go it is not really all that great. Personally I think Freddy vs. Jason, the film that paired the Nightmare on Elm Street villain, Freddy Krueger against Friday the 13th's Jason Voorhees, was a much better film. But in terms of the slasher film overall, this one would pale by comparison to what was probably the king of slasher films, John Carpenter's Halloween. As much as I liked Freddy vs. Jason, I would dearly love to see Jason go head to head with Michael Myers.

Well, campers, until next week, take my advice and keep the kids at home from summer camp.

Quiggy

  

Strange Dreams

This is my entry in the Secret Places and Trippy Houses Blogathon hosted by Taking Up Room

 

 

 

Alone at night in the shadows of my room,

I drift inside of a magical view.

Strange dreams invade my sleep at night! 

 

"Strange Dreams" by Frank Marino and Mahogany Rush 

 

Your dreams are the realm of fantasy. In your dreams you can be an amazing superhero, saving the world just by wagging your pinky finger. Or you can be the cock of the walk, getting the best looking girl (or guy, as the case may be...) in town. Those are what we might call "good" dreams.

 

On the other side of the coin you could be haunted by some pretty bizarre circumstances. Who among us hasn't had a dream where you were caught at school in your pajamas, or underwear, or even naked in front of your classmates? That is just a mild nightmare, as far as nightmares go. A few years ago I related a story about dreaming that flying monkeys were out to get me after watching The Wizard of Oz on TV. (A Nightmare in Oz) 

 

But the nightmares that  haunt some people are even more devastating. Again, on a personal note, I have dreamed, on several occasions of being in a terrible accident, usually while driving. To have nightmares where your actions within the dream sequence not only affect you, but also affect others, can be a cause of distress.  

 

Take for instance the dream of a world leader. God only knows what kind of sick dreams a wacko like Adolph Hitler or Kim Jong Un had or has.  But even world leaders who have some semblance of rationality, such as the President of the United States, can be a bit off kilter.  In this movie the President, played by Eddie Albert, is still holding on to a tenuous hold on rationality, but is still plagued by a recurring nightmare.

Dreamscape is a film that sometimes seems to be unsure of what it wants to be.  Is it a horror movie? (Some scenes may just scare the pants off of you).  Is it a science-fiction movie? (The idea of being able to enter the dreams of another person and interact with them is the stuff of geek sci-fi fantasy). Is it a political thriller? (The main baddie has some ulterior motives for his trying to get the President some help with his nightmares). There is even a not-so-subtle romance going on in the movie, so a case could be made for a romance movie. To top it off, the movie poster (see below) clearly tried to make a connection to the adventure film, a la Indiana Jones, although there is not much in it that could remind you of that adventure type of movie...

Besides the focal "star" of the film, (and, at this point, Dennis Quaid was just getting started, since he had only a few big roles under his belt by this time, Tough Enough, Jaws 3D and The Right Stuff, and had still not achieved the "familiar face" status he would later get), you also got some superstar talent in the form of Max von Sydow and Christopher Plummer, as well as Kate Capshaw, who had just earlier this year gained some recognition for her role in the second Indiana Jones movie, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. The highlight of the film, for me, though, was David Patrick Kelly, who had a few years prior made his film debut in what will probably end up being his most memorable role, as Luther in The Warriors.  

Additionally, there was also George Wendt ("Norm" from Cheers), who throughout the 80's got parts as subsidiary characters in films, and Peter Jason, whose name may not be familiar, but his face surely will be if you watched many 80's movies (in particular, he was the leader of the resistance movement in They Live and was also the bartender who was the recipient of the classic line delivered by Eddie Murphy in 48 Hrs... ""There's a new sheriff in town.. and his name is Reggie Hammond!") .  

Dreamscape came out in 1984 and faced the daunting competition of  such blockbusters as Ghostbusters, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. Fortunately the studios didn't actually try to pit it against those monster moneymakers:  The early summer gave the public the big guys, and let Dreamscape have the luxury of coming to the big screen in late August. It still had the opportunity to have a semi-decent draw, garnering $12 million against a (astoundingly) low budget of $6 million. (The movie LOOKS like it costs more than that, since the special effects are pretty decent...) Note: Elsewhere I have read that the producer claims ticket sales reached upwards of $25 million, take that as you will.

 

 

 

 

Dreamscape (1984):

A key recurring theme in the 80's (and beyond) is that anytime there are potential psychics involved in the story, there is ALWAYS some secret government group seeking to have control over these talented individuals. It was true in Firestarter, and it is true here also. At the beginning of the movie, Bob Blair (Christopher Plummer) is discussing with Dr. Paul Novotny (Max von Sydow), pointing out that a former associate of Novotny's, Alex Gardner (Dennis Quaid), is just the sort of man that Blair is looking for for his project.  The project at hand is a program that purports to use psychics to enter the dreams/nightmares of patients at the institute to help them overcome the nightmares that plague them.

 

Blair wants a good talented psychic to help relieve the President of the United States (Edward Albert) deal with a recurring nightmare he has been having about causing the coming of World War III.  But Blair's motives are not altruistic. See the President (whose name is never given, but at one point he is called "John") is determined to go to a Geneva Peace Conference and try to negotiate a disarmament or at least a reduction in the available nuclear weapons stash of the country. See, the President is not only haunted by thoughts of an imminent nuclear war, but he is still dealing with the trauma of his recently deceased wife. (Thus his wife plays a prominent role in his nightmare as she is frantically running from the blast of an exploded nuclear weapon).

 

Blair, the essence of a "hawk" thinks this is a bad idea. And, as it turns out later, his plan is to kill the President in his dreams. This would have the effect of killing the President in real life, because it is established that if you die in your dreams, you die in real life, too.

But Alex has skipped out of the limelight, living basically in the shadows, using his psychic abilities to win at gambling.  When bookies show up to wrangle him into helping them Alex is not very receptive. But when some guys from his former boss's institute show up Alex uses the opportunity to escape from the bookie and his henchmen. But, when it turns out that Alex finds out his newly acquired saviors intend to basically "kidnap" him for Novotny's program, he is not entirely all that gung ho about it. Even when he finds out they intend to try to use him in the dream scheme. 

That is, until he meets Dr. Novotny's colleague, Dr. Jane DeVries (Kate Capshaw). Alex is, among other things, a womanizer (and with Capshaw as his new potential conquest, who could blame him...?) So he agrees to hang on for just a little bit longer. At least until he can get Jane to agree to a romantic interlude...

 

Blair's prize psychic is Tommy Ray Glatman (David Patrick Kelly). Tommy Ray is the ultimate in "I'm just in this for myself" kind of thinking. It turns out that Tommy Ray is not entirely as innocent as anyone may think. Alex eventually finds a file in the offices of Blair that reveal that Tommy Ray had killed his own father.

   

As usual, when the government has it's hand in the pie, it turns out that not all is what it seems, even though Blair manages to put up a front to keep the secret agenda hidden away from Alex as well as Novotny and Jane. Before we get to that final combat in the nightmare of the President, however, we get to see Alex work his magic at helping a young boy overcome is nightmare of a boogeyman, Or, in this instance, a snake man... (By the way, the kid is played by Cory Yothers, whose sister had a bit more success in Hollywood, mainly by playing the younger sister of Alex Keaton in Family Ties).

There is also a pretty funny sequence where Alex helps out a man who is having trouble with his sex life with his wife. It turns out that he is haunted by his own "nightmare". I won't give this part away because a: it's well worth seeing on screen and b: it's just too funny to describe anyway.

Alex and Jane end up together in a dream she is having, but since Alex entered the dream without her knowing about it first, or even her acquiescence, she is understandably a bit annoyed with Alex. But she had an attraction to Alex in the first place, so she is not all that incensed by his intrusion. (Unlike other bloggers I am not going to address the non-PC issue that this scene might be looked at in today's world. I try to look at movies in the context of the time they were made, not whether they would fly today).

Alex meets up with a writer of potboilers, Charlie Prince (George Wendt), who is investigating the mysterious goings on at the institute, and eventually turns Alex on to the fact that Blair may not be all the altruistic figure he seems to be trying to promote himself as.

 

Most of the dream sequences are a bit on the low budget side (that snake man, for instance, is not really all that scary, just made more so by the music accompanying the scenes). But, considering, the time, they are pretty decent. I found out in doing research that the low quality of the dream sequences was due to the fact that the producers underestimated the time they would need. Apparently, they thought 2 months would be plenty of time. Imagine what they could have accomplished if they had given themselves at least double that... 

Ultimately, the best sequence is the final scene in which Alex and The President have to fend off Tommy Ray, who as I mentioned earlier is Blair's number one boy for dispatching the President. 

The post holocaust scenes in the President's nightmare, although not much different from any other post-nuclear war scenes depicted in movies and TV shows down through the ages, can be pretty nerve-wracking, and were probably even more so during the mid-80's when the threat of nuclear war with the Russians still loomed on the horizon. And here that filter that the camera man uses to give it an odd unworldly feel of the dream world makes the scene work all that much better.

A note here about the content: Red Dawn, which had been released earlier in 1984, was the first movie to ever receive the newly created PG13 rating, movies that weren't too graphic in other areas, but might be to violent for a standard PG rating. Dreamscape became the second. You parents with small children might keep that in consideration...  

If you decide to take the leap in to the dream world of this movie, I don't think you'll be disappointed. When I originally saw it in the theater back in 1984, I think I would have given the film an 8 rating. Here, in the retrospect of the past, and having seen many more films with an apocalyptic scene or two, made much better due to a bigger budget, I would be remiss to say it didn't drop a peg or two, but I think I could still rate it a 7.

Well, time to fire up the old Plymouth and head back home. Drive safely.

Quiggy

 

 

 

 

10th Anniversary of The Midnite Drive-In

 

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