Showing posts with label Star Wars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Star Wars. Show all posts

Saturday, November 23, 2013

50 YEARS OF DOCTOR WHO

I'm one of those American kids who discovered the original Dr. Who during the post Star Wars sci-fi boom years. Dr. Who was mixed in with Battlestar Galactica, Jason of Star Command and the revamped versions of Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon and Star Trek. Our Doctor was Tom Baker in his floppy hat and long scarf. He was a cross between Bob Dylan and Groucho Marx. Had a robot dog named K-9 and one of his female companions was a scantly clad cavewoman.

I had seen photos of the show in Starlog and other magazines. A TV Guide article on "The Five Doctors" episode sparked my interest in the show. I also had two classmates, both named Robert and both army brats, who talked about watching the show in Oklahoma. Luckily, I had a sister who lived in Oklahoma and I could watch it when I visited her, because as I mentioned in an earlier post about being a superhero fan growing up in the Ozarks, the cool shows were rarely seen on TV in the Ozarks. Dr. Who was seen on public television in Oklahoma, but not in the Ozarks.

Eventually, I was able to collect several VHS tapes of the episodes when a video store went out of business here in Springfield. My problem with the VHS tapes and even some of the reruns I saw in Oklahoma was the editing of them into one long episode instead of their original serial form. The cliffhangers are as important the mystique of Dr. Who as they were to Flash Gordon.

I have not seen very much of the new shows. I saw one with Christopher Eccleston, but I turned it off in the middle. It was the Doctor as I enjoyed him, however I have seen some previews of the David Tendant and Matt Smith episodes. I want to see them because they have the elements of the original show that attracted me to it back in the 80s.

And if you are wondering, I own a copy of the book picture above.  

 

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

THE MOST UNDERRATTED HORROR FILM OF THE 70S - MESSIAH OF EVIL

If I could nominate a movie for Best Overlooked and Underrated Horror Film of the 70s. It would be Messiah of Evil from 1972. Directed by Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz, who were friends of George Lucas. They later wrote the screenplay for American Graffiti.

This film has a Lovecraftian story line with elements of Night of the Living Dead and a stylish Italian art film look. The film stars Marianna Hill, as a woman looking for her missing father played by Royal Dano, of Twin Peaks and just about every Western every made. She travels to a small, sea side community to find him.

She falls in with a handsome arts patron and ladies man named Tom, played by Michael Greer (Above). Interesting fact about Michael Greer, he was an openly gay actors/comedian in the 70s. His first major movie role was in a movie called The Gay Deceivers. After that some the trailers to his next few movies referred to him as "the fairy godmother" and "fairy queen." As far as I know, Stepin Fetchit didn't have to deal with this kind of infamy. He is great as Tom. One critic says he looks like the fourth Bee Gee in this stylish 70s suits. He kind of gives off a Peter Fonda vibe to me.

Tom has two girlfriends living with him. One is the cute Joy Bang (there is a porn name if I ever heard one) and sexy Anitra Ford, who was a Price Is Right model at the time. Also in the mix is Elisha Cook Junior as a creepy servant (Did the man play anything else?). Also I should mention Bennie Robinson, an African- American Albino, who plays a truck driver, who leads the zombies. His great scene in the film is when he eats a live rat while listening to Wagner.

This film has some effective zombie scenes such when Joy Bang is killed in a movie theater and Anita Ford is killed in a Ralph's Supermarket, after discovering a group of zombies eating raw meat from the meat case. For retro fans, this scene is great in that it features an automatic door with a rubber mat, that doesn't open when Anitra Ford stomps on it repeatedly. Also she dies to the strains of bad, syrupy supermarket music.
Another great scene is when cops trying to disperse an attacking mob of zombies realize that another officer is a zombie.

The look of the film is interesting because some of the pop art Tom collects. It is of life-sized, gray scale photos of people, which seem to be watching in disapproval in the background of every scene. The film also uses bright colors and bright lighting rather than dark tones and underlit scenes.

This film has turned up in several Mill Creek horror movie collection as well as other cheep public domain DVDs. It can also be watched for free on You Tube. It is a great film that you will not be disappointed in. 
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