Curse of the Swamp Creature – One of Larry Buchanan's Best Films

 

The films of Texas filmmaker Larry Buchanan have really grown on me over the years. I place Buchanan in the top five of my favorite cult film directors. After reading author Rob Craig's excellent book – The Films of Larry Buchanan: A Critical Examination (McFarland 2007), I have an even greater respect for Buchanan's films. Craig gives the reader great insight into the mind and films of Buchanan. Buchanan directed six made for television films for American International Television under the Azalea company title. One of these Azalea films is the 1968 science fiction thriller – Curse of The Swamp Creature, starring John Agar.

In Curse of the Swamp Creature, oil surveyor Driscoll West (Bill Thurman) arrives at the Fly-N-Fish Motel and sits down at the bar for a drink. A beautiful raven-haired woman named Brenda Simmons (Shirley McLine) sits down at the bar next to West and begins to flirt with him. Simmons pumps West for information about oil surveying in the local area, but West refuses to answer her questions and decides to go back to his hotel room.

West returns to his motel room to find young Ritchie (Cal Duggan) going through his personal belongings in the motel room. The two men fight, punching and wrestling each other to the ground. Ritchie stabs West in the stomach with a knife, killing him. The motel manager named Frenchie (Roger Ready) and Simmons enter the room and plot how to get rid of West's body. They decide to put West's body through a swamp-cutting machine.

Before West's death, he was scheduled to meet with geologist Barry Rogers (John Agar) at the hotel for a trip to survey the local swamp. Simmons comes up with the idea that when Rogers arrives, she will simply tell him that West could not attend the meeting and that she is West's wife sent to fill in for him. Rogers arrives at the Fly-N-Fish motel and is greatly puzzled by Simmons' news that West will not be joining them. Nevertheless, Rogers, Simmons and a swamp guide named Rabbit embark on a trip through the local swamp the next morning.

Meanwhile, Dr. Simon Trent (Jeff Alexander) is conducting bizarre experiments at a nearby swamp plantation not far from the Fly-N-Fish Motel. A scaly hand of a monster similar to the Gill Man in Creature From The Black Lagoon (1954) emerges from a vat of mist in Trent's laboratory. He yells at the creature to “Breathe! Breathe! Live!” Unfortunately the creature dies, and Trent wraps him up in a white blanket and throws him to the alligators who happen to dwell in his backyard pool.

Dr. Trent tells his assistants, Valjean and Tracker, that he expects them to keep close eyes on the plantation and not to allow any intruders near the plantation so that no one will interfere with his work. Local natives suspect that Trent is conducting evil experiments on the natives. Both Valjean and Tracker appear to be incompetent at their jobs because the natives have come near the plantation many times looking for lost family members. Trent tells them that he will not tolerate any more incompetence if they continue to allow natives near the plantation.

Rogers, Simmons, Ritchie and Rabbit eventually arrive near Dr. Trent's plantation. Instead of hiding from the group, Dr. Trent orders Tracker to bring them to the plantation mansion so he can offer them hospitality. The group meets in Trent's home and he discusses with them some of his experiments and research. Trent's wife Pat (Francine York) is excited to meet the group because she has not seen other people in over a year. The group is offered to stay the night at Trent's home. Trent keeps Pat locked up in a room and secluded from the rest of the world.

Tracker is persuaded by Pat to release her from her locked room. She wanders into her husband's laboratory and finds Dr. Trent's assistant – Tom (Enrique Touceda III – billed as “Anthony Huston”) floating in the lab tank with wiring attached all over his body. She flees the room, screaming and hysterical. Dr. Trent catches her and tries to assure her that Tom is not dead, and that Tom volunteered for the experiment. Mrs. Trent of course does not believe him. Tom questioned Trent's work, so he was drugged and placed in the tank for experimentation. Trent later wraps Tom up in a white sheet and dumps him into the alligator pool. Another failed experiment. The alligators feast on Tom's body.

After his failed experiment with Tom's body, Dr. Trent uses Brenda Simmon's body as his next experiment. She quickly evolves into a masculine looking green monster with bulging eyes. Dr. Trent orders the creature to kill the natives that have come to his home to confront him. The Simmons creature disobeys Trent and instead picks up Trent and throws him into the pool of alligators. Simmons then offers herself as a sacrifice by plunging off the dive board of the pool into the alligators.

One very strange aspect of this film is when Dr. Trent places his assistant Tom in the vat for experimentation. After placing Tom in the vat, he never fully evolves into a creature. Even after the camera shows him in a number of scenes in the vat, he remains in human form unchanged. However, when Dr. Trent places Brenda Simmons' body into the vat, she immediately evolves into a green masculine creature. It's as if experimenting on a woman achieves immediate results in contrast to experimenting on a male subject. Why is this? The viewer is left puzzled by this (at least I was).

At the time actor John Agar was cast in Curse of The Swamp Creature, he was battling a lifetime of alcoholism, which negatively impacted his acting career and ended his earlier marriage to actress Shirley Temple. Agar spent the decade of the 1960s being cast in a number of low-budget features, including another Buchanan Azalea TV film – Zontar – The Thing From Venus (1967), and Night Fright (1967), Journey To The Seventh Planet (1962), Women of The Prehistoric Planet (1966), and many others.

As mentioned at the beginning of this writing, Buchanan made a total of six made-for-TV films for American International Television under the Azalea company title. The five other Azalea films are: Zontar – The Thing From Venus (1967), Mars Needs Women (1968), The Eye Creatures (1965), In The Year 2889 (1969) and Creature of Destruction (1967). Stay tuned for other articles on Plan 9 Crunch about these Buchanan films produced by Azalea. Happy viewing.

- Steve D. Stones

Outlaw Motorcycles, 1966, an early genre documentary

Review by Doug Gibson

On this blog, I recently reviewed the semi-obscure "The Last of the American Hoboes," a late '60s feature-length documentary/narrative film history of hoboes. It was directed by Titus Moede (Moody), an iconoclastic actor/director/camerman/screenwriter/photographer who shot his films on a shoestring budget, when he could shoot them.

Moede died in 2001. I've long wanted to see an earlier documentary/narrative he bundled together. It's "Outlaw Motorcycles," 1966, a 35-minute short. Like "... Hoboes," it knocked around the basements of film distribution, with Moede selling many copies of both at a Los Angeles "mondo" film store, and through mail order. Both films entered the century largely ignored; neither was placed on the now-defunct TCM Underground. Both would have been ideal choices. In late 2023, both films were part of the several-films offering "Lost Picture set" Blu-Ray from Vinegar Syndrome. "Outlaw Motorcycles" was an extra for "The Last of the American Hoboes."I've seen both recently because "...Hoboes" is playing on Tubi. "...Motorcycles," for the time being, is on YouTube.

So, what do I think of "Outlaw Motorcycles?" Like "Hoboes," it's not a great film, but it's a fascinating time-capsule effort that merits more attention. This wasn't the first movie to feature motorcyclists, but it was very likely one of a just a few that was open-minded about its subjects. In this film law enforcement, while not overtly villains, are represented as individuals with power who will hassle the motorcycle gangs of that era.

Moede, who has solid history as a working actor, was a bohemian. While some scenes are staged -- as in "Hoboes," -- he walked the talk. The majority of participants belong to the motorcycle gangs that traversed California roads. Much of it was shot outdoors, and you can feel the uneasiness and/or fascinations people of that era felt watching the gangs.

The print I viewed was faded. Much of the dialogue (like "Hoboes") was probably dubbed later or just barely heard due to the low budget. But much of the film delivers authenticity. I particularly enjoyed the scene of a "biker wedding." The groom, after kissing his bride, gives several male biker buddies smooches on the lips. Another strong scene is a biker gang member's funeral.

The film has a scene where members of a biker gang meet and decide to raise money to buy lunches for victims during the Watts riots. The scene is probably staged but I'll accept that it occured. Like "Hoboes," it's strengthened by Moede's contacts and ability to go to locations that other films did not offer. In one scene a motorcycle gang member sports a Nazi swastika. I had though that association was a cliche, but apparently not.

Viewers learn in the film what a motorcycle gang's "mama" is. I'll keep it a secret. It leads to likely the most notorious/popular scene: a visit to a tattoo location where two "mamas" receive tattoos on two personal parts of the body. Gordon Barclay, an actor friend of Moede's who wrote and acted in "Hoboes," is the tattoo artist. I've read this film was banned in some locations. This scene is likely the reason. One shot in the scene, involving one of the "mamas," may be iconic. I know I've seen it before. It has the word "property" in it.

It's very low-budget, the film can plod at times, but it's an important film. Like Andy Milligan's early '60s short "Vapors," (a film about a NYC bathhouse) it provides a non-judgmental look at a culture that contemporary America -- at that time -- almost universally shunned and disliked.

Journey to Freedom a flawed by compelling Cold War drama from cult filmmaker Stephen C Apostolof

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Review by Doug Gibson

Most cult film genre fans know the late Stephen C. Apostolof  as the director of the mid-‘60s Ed Wood-scripted “nudie-cutie” film “Orgy of the Dead,” with ponderous, pontificating Criswell, shot in a Hollywood graveyard, with very, very long poorly choreographed nude dances. Those deeper into cult genre know Apostolof, later in his career, hired Wood to script, act, and generally just help out in several more soft-core films the Bulgarian-born director made in the ‘70s.

But Apostolof, who died a generation ago, was a fascinating, charismatic man with an intensely interesting life story. The biography, Dad Made Dirty Movies, by Jordon Todorov and Joe Blevins, is a book that merits more sales success. There is also a film documentary on Apostolof’s life and career.

At the age of 18 Apostolof, a lifelong anti-communist, was imprisoned by the communist party that then ruled Bulgaria. He eventually managed to get out of that country, and  -- with many adventures – moved his way through Istanbul, Paris, Canada and eventually to the United States, where the now-married Apostolof settled in Los Angeles for decades.

A man of many jobs, Apostolof was interested in making a semi-autobiographical film detailing, with some license, his experiences eluding communism. The 1950s were a decade with anti-communist films. Bigger-budget films included “The Woman on Pier 13” and “I was a Communist for the FBI.” But there were lower-budget efforts too, including “The Beast of Budapest” and “Escape from the Iron Curtain,” which starred a young Theodore Bikel. Apostolof consulted with a friend, Herb Niccols, to write a screenplay based on Apostolof’s life.

Apostolof formed SCA Productions, managed to get $47,000 in funds, and made the 60-minute “Journey to Freedom,” which RKO eventually agreed to distribute.

How good a film is “Journey to Freedom?” Well, I like it, but I love cult films. I love those low-budget, ragged puppies of movies made on a wing and a prayer. “Journey to Freedom” is a very personal film. It details the escape from communism of Stephan Raikin, (Jacques Scott) a mild-mannered pianist/writer who escapes prison with two friends. Raikin gets a job playing piano in an Istanbul bar. There he encounters a monster of a man (Tor Johnson) who hates Bulgarians and beats up Raikin. Alone now, Raikin takes off for Paris and falls in love with a beautiful woman, Nanette (Michele Montau). Their romance has potential but the communists are still trying to kill Raikin, who is now interested in working for Voice of America. The pair break up. Raikin makes it to New York City. Injured there, he falls in love with and marries his nurse, Mary (Eve Brent). They move to Los Angeles, have a child (played by Apostolof’s real life child, Polly) and began an idealistic life, in a happy home, going to church, and Raiking writing for Voice of America. But the Bulgarian secret police won’t stop pursuing him, and the climax involves one more attempt to ruin the immigrant dissident’s life.

The plot sounds interesting, but it needs a better script and budget. Frankly, to encompass the plot, the film needs 30 extra minutes. But due to budget strains, it’s episodic, with abrupt plot changes, plot twists that seem contrived, and just passable dialogue. The film has lots of stock news footage, which is interesting.

The film is either enhanced, or lowered (depending on the viewer’s opinion) by the unique inclusion of a Bulgarian communist secret police member who narrates much of the film. This is done to move the plot along and increase awareness of the ongoing danger facing Raikin. I found this initially fun although it started to wear out its welcome later. The narration is very campy, sort of told in an accented “Snidely Whiplash” type of manner.

The crew and cast is a cult genre fan’s delight. Director Robert Dertano directed ‘50s cheapies “Girl Gang” and “Paris after Midnight.” He was also an assistant director in “Orgy of the Dead.” The cameraman was Ed Wood’s favorite, Bill Thompson, who filmed “Plan 9 from Outer Space.” Tor Johnson does a rare speaking part in Journey to Freedom. He also had dialogue in “Plan 9 From Outer Space.” Don Marlowe, a former agent of Bela Lugosi with a rascally reputation, has a small role as a detective. Apostolof has a small cameo in a scene where he wears a beret.

The cast is not bad. Scott was the son of a British ambassador. His best role was in the Jack Lemon, June Allyson film “You Can’t Run Away From It.” Montau was a working actress. Her best role might be “The Devil at 4 O’Clock,” with Spencer Tracy and Frank Sinatra. The best-known actress in the film is Brent, who had a very long career. Today her face is recognizable because she was so ubiquitous in TV and films. In the big-budget film, “The Green Mile,” she had a substantial role. Her career was still young in “Journey to Freedom” and she bears a resemblance to Shelly Winters.

It’s easy to tag these 1950s anti-communist films as an element of the McCarthy era. But that’s not really fair for films dealing with oppression in Europe, such as “Journey to Freedom” or “The Beast of Budapest.” The treatment of dissidents, even peaceful ones, was uniquely cruel. My father in law, a labor leader in Hungary who supported the unsuccessful ’56 revolution, was imprisoned and tortured. Scores of thousands were murdered.

Apostolof was certainly proud of the film. But it bankrupted him. He only earned a small percentage of his investment back. Yet, he was resilient, and enjoyed long success making soft-core films with the moniker A.C. Stephen. His career -- and family life -- make for fascinating reading in “Dad Made Dirty Movies.”

Currently, “Journey to Freedom” can be viewed (free) on Amazon Prime. It’s part of the streamer MGM+ offerings. It’s definitely worth an hour of your time. And buy his biography. (I think Max or Netflix, etc. could make a fascinating multi-part series of his life, but what do I know?)

Plan9Crunch thanks David Grudt, of Long Beach Calif., for unearthing these several newspaper clippings of the film. From top to bottom, the sources are: South Bend Tribune, South Bend Indiana, Oct. 17, 1957; Anaheim Bulletin, Anaheim California, Jan. 19, 1957; The Bellingham Herald, Bellingham, Washington, Nov. 13, 1957; Los Angeles Evening News, Hollywood, California, Dec. 3, 1957; The LA Times, Thursday, December 1, 1960 (already on TV).

John Carradine makes Cain's Cutthroats a western worth a look

 

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Review by Doug Gibson

"Caine's Cutthroats" is a 1970 revenge western that was originally titled "Caine's Way" (more on that later). It's a very low-budget western with ambitous pretensions. It wants to be deep, and explore how unwarranted suffering and grief can be contaminated into a never-ending desire to torture and kill; and how the desire for revenge can return a good man to his once-evil self. If the producers had just kept a simple plot simple, you might see "Caine's Cutthroats" on western cable channels today instead of the same tired fuzzy print that has made the rounds through a VHS release, various appearances on out-of-print multi-western DVD collections, and current appearances on Tubi, YouTube and Daily Motion.

The plot: "Caine's Cutthroats" are former Confederate soldiers who committed crimes against Union forces. It's long after the Civil War, and they are out of prison. They have resumed criminal activities, stealing a Union military payroll and slaughtering several soldiers. They visit the home of their past gang leader, Justice Cain (Scott Brady), who has renounced his past and lives with his son and new wife, an African-American woman who once served as a slave maid in his household. Cain rebuffs his returning crew and they turn on him, raping his wife and killing her and Cain's young son. They shoot Cain, torch his property and leave him for dead.

There's one main reason to see this film (and another smaller one). The main reason is the introduction of the character, Preacher Simms, played by the great John Carradine. The self-described preacher discovers Cain, nurses him back to health and buries his wife and child. Preacher Simms loves to quote Bible scripture -- often as wry commentary on events he witnesses -- but he makes most of his money as a bounty hunter. He keeps the heads of the outlaws he kills pickled in a big barrel. He collects bounties by delivering the heads to law enforcement. As Cain heals, Simms learns that the Cain's Cutthroats gang members carry healthy bounty rewards. Preacher and Cain join to hunt the 'Cutthroats; Preacher for the money, Cain for revenge.

At this point in his career, Carradine was usually a one- or two-day payday for low-budget films. But he has a substantial role in this film, and I think this may be his best performance in a low-budget film in the early '70s. He just chews up the scenery, quoting Bible scriptures  shows great comic timing, and really seems to be enjoying himself. As he tells Cain, "... I sort of mix vocations, a shepherd of the flock, a hunter of men. ..."

Brady, once a major star and still getting some A-film roles in 1970, seemed to enjoy paydays in low-budget films. He's adequate as Cain, a man who has lost everything and can't control his thirst for vengeance. Although initially the sympathetic victim, he reverts to his former heartless, criminal, sadistic tendencies. 

The simple plot has promise but the execution fails. The film, shot in Kanab, Utah, and Yucca Valley's PioneerTown in California, is very low-budget. It's directed by Kent Osborne, who is slightly less talented than Al Adamson. Both Brady and Carradine, and Robert Dix -- who plays Cain's former second in command -- worked for Adamson. With one exception, the actors who portray the 'Cutthroats are very mediocre. They seem incapable of doing anything other than whooping and hollering, and laughing at inflicting pain. The violence is poorly portrayed, with fake blood, and the scenes are shot crudely and unconvincingly. The scant budget, and 85-minute running time, doesn't provide nuance for the adversaries, nor does it provide sympathy for the protagonist Cain, who shows his rage in explosions of anger, rather than as a slowly-simmering-to-boiling cauldron.

The one positive performance from the 'Cutthroats comes from Darwin Joston, as Billy Joe, a psychopathic former soldier with serious mother issues. Joston went on to star in bigger films, including "Wild at Heart," "The Fog," and "Assault From Precinct 13,"

Now, here's the second cult reason to view "Cain's Cutthroats." There is a small but substantial role by Ed Wood actor -- and his friend -- Valda Hansen. She plays"Zelda,' who is either a barfly or prostitute who cavorts romantically with Billy Joe in a "saloon." (The low budget prevents viewers from really seeing a realistic-looking saloon.) Valda's acting is very strong. She portrays a boisterous woman who really enjoys heavy flirting with the outlaw. A second scene, inside a room where the two prepare to have sex, ends with a partially nude Zelda being strangled to death by the psychopath. He can't engage in sex due to his mother issues, and an angry Zelda insults him, triggering the homicidal rage.

Viewers need to note that the second scene, the murder -- with Hansen's character being strangled -- is missing from both YouTube and Daily Motion versions, as well as DVDs that include "Cain's Cutthroats" with other westerns. The version currently on Tubi has the film with both scenes. Other than the obscure VHS release, that may be the only complete "Cain's Cutthroats" out there. 

Another actor, Adair Jameson, is effective in a small role as Rita, a former mistress of one of the killers, who joins Cain and Preacher after her boyfriend is killed. She engages in a romance with Cain that would have helped him. However, Cain is too consumed with anger to accept her offer of love. After a particularly sadistic killing of one of the murderers, both Rita and Preacher Simms abandon Cain, leaving him for good. The final scene provides a sort of morality tale that is intended to show a broken Cain that cannot achieve peace, even at the end of his vengeance quest.

Jameson has a nude bathing scene that is not cut from any prints. She is probably best known for her tiny role in the Don Knotts comedy, "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken," where she plays an attractive bank employee, Eileen, whose fully-filled sweater is complimented by her boss, played by James Millhollin. Jameson was married to B-film actor Myron Healey ("The Unearthly").

The "spaghetti westerns" were done a lot better than this California/Utah sadistic 'oater. It boasts some original songs, which seem out of place with the grim story. Mentioned earlier is that the film was released as "Caine's Way." It was about 10 minutes longer and apparently included documentary-like footage of modern-day criminal biking gangs committing mayhem. It would be interesting to see that print. In the unlikely event a nice Blu-Ray print is ever provided for this film, I hope the "Caine's Way"footage is an extra, if it still exists.

In an interview with Cult Movies Magazine published after her death, Valda Hansen expressed a lot of enthusiasm for "Cain's Cutthroats," expressing high hopes and later disappointment that it did not get more exposure. It's one of the few films where Hansen received considerable film time, and she shows she possesses acting skills, as she also does in another '70s low-budget film, "Outlaw Riders."

As you can see from the theater ads interspersed in this review, it did get many bookings. With a bigger budget, less sadism, a bigger star, and Carradine, it might be a favorite today seen on TCM, etc. As it is, it's a mediocre, small-budget revenge western with a very small cult that's due to Carradine's truly bizarre performance, and his comic timing. Despite its shortcomings, I have developed a fondness for the film, and watch it every couple of years. I own a VHS copy.

Regional Horror Films a great look at no-frills filmmaking

By Doug Gibson

If you're a cult- or alternative-film fan/geek like I am, and I assume most of our readers are, then Brian Albright has provided a great service with his latest McFarland Publishers book, "Regional Horror Films, 1958-1990: A State-by-State Guide with Interviews." (here) The book is comprised in two parts: a series of interviews with directors or persons otherwise associated with regional horror films; and a lengthy, fairly complete listing, state-by-state, of regional, ultra low-budget horrors for the 32 years covered. (Amazon page is here.)

Albright correctly describes a regional film as shot outside of the entertainment industry, or southern California, and not associated with a major, or even minor, studio. In many cases, these were labors of love, or hobbies that turned into several-year projects, punctuated by stubborn persistence by the filmmakers to get the thing done. What's fairly consistent through the interviews that Albright gathered -- probably over several years since some of the essays are from 2008 -- is that the filmmakers saw little, or no money, from their endeavors. Distributors took all the cash, the films were pirated and sold throughout the nation and world, the made-for-video market collapsed in the late 1980s ... survivors of the original filmmaker sold the film for a quick buck, and so on. (It would be interesting for McFalarland to publish a book on the many ways ways small-time, regional filmmakers were shut out of whatever cash flow came from their films.)

It's wise that Albright resists the urge to provide interviews involving regional films that hit it big and spawned imitators, such as "The Evil Dead" or "Night of the Living Dead." While their stories are fascinating, there is more than enough articles and books out there for fans to go to. Instead, Albright picks an eclectic group to interview. I particularly enjoy the interview with Robert Burrill, the man behind "The Milpitas Monster." Although previously published in FilmFax, the story of how a school and a small city banded together to make an ecological monster film, partially as a protest against a larger city critic's slamming of said city, is interesting. What started out as a short literally grew, like a monster, into a finished film.

In fact, future filmmakers can learn from some of the stories, including Donald Barton of Florida, who cobbled together investors willing to put in almost $100,000 to make "Zaat," a story about a scientist who turns himself into a catfish monster. (Barton even got a local Baptist church to help out!) After seeing "Zaat" falter and even be turned into other titles by distribution deals that yielded no money, Barton shelved his movie for 30 years before fans convinced him to publicize it on the Web, show it -- to a big crowd -- at an locla theater, and (later) move it back into DVD distribution. Amazingly, I watched "Zaat" recently on Turner Classic Movies' TCM Underground series; a similar "distinction" was awarded another Florida regional film listed in the compendium, "Carnival Magic," directed by the late Al Adamson. (It was also fascinating to learn that regional horror films were easier to make due to tax write offs that were unfortunately eliminated by Congress, strangling the genre by the latter half of the 1980s.)

It'd be nice to see a TCM Underground showing for regional director, J.R. Bookwalter, who is interviewed by Albright, mostly about "The Dead Next Door," his homage to Romero's zombie movies that for a while, received some support from "The Evil Dead" director Sam Raimi. Bookwalter eventually moved into low-budget producing and distribution, and it's facinating to read about the details of that industry. It may be the only viable way for most talented micro-budget regional horror filmmakers to make some bucks.

I also enjoyed the interview with the eccentric Milton Moses Ginsberg, who crafted the bizarre monster/political film, "The Werewolf of Washington," a staple today for horror movie hosts looking to cheaply lampoon public domain films. Ginsberg, who admits to being most horrified by "The Wolfman" as a youngster, created in the early 1970s what seems like a natural take off on the Watergate ... except that the film was hatched and created prior to the Watergate scandal breaking. In any event, it's a prescient regional film, and (of course) died quickly at the box office, before being pirated to the VHS and DVD market.

As mentioned, the compendium is fairly complete, and includes at least a paragraph, and most often more, on the hundreds of regional films included. A lot of low-budget cult figures are covered pretty well in the list, including Andy Milligan and Bill Rebane. The video nasty Utah regional horror, "Don't Go In the Woods ... Alone," is included, as well as the interesting, Texas regional from the 1960s, "The Black Cat." The pre-porno adult regional filmmakers are mentioned from time to time, including the late Barry Mahon's "The Sex Killer," which captures many bleak late-1960s shots of the New York City business districts.

A lot of the films mentioned in this book, including "Black Cat" and Milligan's "Torture Dungeon," would be great picks for future TCM Underground selections. Let's hope the brains behind that series is reading Albright's book.

Invasion of the Rocket Monsters - a sci-fi film in development

Essay by Sherman Hirsh. (Sherman, a screenwriter and director, has written several fascinating essays for Plan9Crunch, including his accounts of being involved with the making of films, including Surgikill, Lords of Magick, Scream Zombie Scream, and more. We're pleased to publish this latest essay.)

MONSTERS. 

I came across an interesting word:TERATOPHOBIA. It literally means “Fear of Monsters”. 

No, I did not make that word up, but I did coin a derivative word: TERATOPHOBIAPHILIA, which I propose to mean “the condition of liking to be scared by monsters”. Most people have it to some extent, some to a pathological degree. Those are the fans who hit every monster convention. Hey, at least we have monster conventions.

I've been thinking a lot about monsters lately, like how monsters used to be a large part of popular culture, and how the films from that bygone era are still popular. In recent years, most monsters were zombies, with an occasional macro-monster like Godzilla and his ilk.

Where were the mutants, lab failures, atomic giants and bugs, killer brains and trees and other plants and goo, rabid robots, ravenous germs and the rest? Oh, sure, we had Alien and Predator, and a couple Mummies, but did they spark a whole era of monster media like they did in the 50's. OK, not yet. Plus, all that rancor against stop motion ( which is enjoying something of a comeback ) and the MAN-IN-THE-SUIT menaces versus CGI has put the whole pantheon of monsters in the old creepers home. Even the zombies are on hiatus.

I grew up on a steady diet of monsters. Between FAMOUS MONSTERS, the only magazine on the newsstand that told how movies were made, and SHOCK THEATER making Friday nights a horror/Sci-Fi film fest, monsters were old friends, making us delight in fright to the tune of a wailing theremin. And then suddenly, out of nowhere, OUTER LIMITS added more fuel to the pyre. New monsters added to the weirdness universe made my teen years almost tolerable. I wanted a piece of the action. I wanted to make movies. I did.

As a filmmaker, I have the means and skills to put my imaginings on a screen somewhere. I have made 3 features, one, LOVE SLAVES OF THE SHE-MUMMY, a homage to Late Night Horror Hosts, SCREAM, ZOMBIE, SCREAM, a zombie farce, and most recently, OVERLORDS OF MAGICK, a wizard fantasy follow-up to a film I wrote for someone else 30+ years ago. 

However, for a long time, I have wanted to indulge my love of Science Fiction. I wanted to shoot on a space ship, and have my protagonists battle good old fashioned monsters. I did all kinds of other genre projects, but sci fi had to wait. Hence, my latest project, INVASION OF THE ROCKET MONSTERS. I don't want to give away too much, not that the title doesn't spell out what you could expect to experience.

Basically, my zombie hunters from SCREAM, ZOMBIE, SCREAM are called out of retirement to apply their skills to exterminating a gaggle of alien monsters on their own massive spaceship. Since no one has seen SZS, this won't mean much to most people, but what if you could see SZS before INVASION is released? You can. I have re-edited SZS into six episodes which will be up on YouTube to be followed by INVASION soon after. Eventually.

There is a reality show on SyFy called FACE OFF. Teams of pro and emerging make up artists compete for cash and prizes by creating full body costumes and original faces based on assigned themes. I have been watching the show, looking for ideas to steal for my monsters. Except that, so far, I haven't seen anything worth stealing. These artists are very talented, but their creations are keyed to the themes of the assignment, and not to the requirements of a story, so the designs are more works of static art than movie monsters. 

Does this worry me? I'm in Los Angeles, the Film Capital of the World. I will find someone to build my six full body monsters. And if they insist on being paid, I will make the damn monsters myself.

Less is more. INVASION OF THE ROCKET MONSTERS will not be a feature. It will be between 30 and 60 minutes. Face it, the concept won't support a feature without a lot of unwelcome filler. A nice tight featurette has several advantages. One is money; shoot less, spend less. One of the reasons I avoided Sci Fi is that it calls for special props, costumes and sets. OVERLORDS OF MAGICK was a Sword & Sorcery fantasy with a Medieval look.

Props and costumes and set décor for the Middle Ages are easy to get from multiple sources. For some reason, uncopyrighted science fiction objects that aren't derived from movies and TV shows aren't mass produced, and if I want a convincing ambiance, a lot of my visual assets will have to be fabricated. One more challenge. So what? Shooting could be 7-10 days, instead of as many weeks. Less footage, less post-production. Less pressure means more time to prepare and rehearse. AND there might be enough money left over for another project.

I'm saving up. The longer I wait, the more money I'll have saved up for the project. I calculated that if I plan for a start date sometime in October, the finances will be a minor concern. That's plenty of time to prepare all the details. INVASION OF THE ROCKET MONSTERS could be out for Christmas, a welcome antidote for all those girly Disney princess flicks that will be clogging up the cinemas.

There's a lot to do. I have to perfect the script, set up the studio and prepare the sets, commission half a dozen monsters that don't look like badly made Muppets. Oh, and learn to play the theremin.

Plan 9 Crunch has been a great source of support relative to several of my projects, and any news about INVASION OF THE ROCKET MONSTERS will originate here. If you like monsters, I got 'em! There's a lot to do. I have to perfect the script, set up the studio and prepare the sets, and commission half a dozen monsters that don't look like badly made Muppets. Oh, and learn to play the theremin.

Plan9Rewind: Scream Zombie Scream -- a look at tiny-budget filmmaking

Editor's note: Doug Gibson, Plan9Crunch co-blogger speaking, today we have another fascinating essay from Sherman Hirsh, screenwriter of Surgikill and Lords of Magick as well as director of Love Slaves of the She Mummy (also here) and the new Scream, Zombie, Scream. As the previous, well-read blog entries show, Sherman describes, with affection and detail, the world of low- and micro-budget filmmaking. His love for film and writing is evident in his essays, and we're proud to offer this inside-look at the making of "Scream, Zombie, Scream." I've watched the film and it's a lean, witty tale that provides a new twist on the zombie genre. When it's ready for sale via amazon, etc., we'll provide a link. Thanks, Sherman.



By Sherman Hirsh

Where do movies come from?
For some filmmakers, it’s a desire to make a pot full of money, achieve fame and meet girls.  For others, it’s an act of homage to the classic movies of the past.  For the rest, like me, it’s just the love of making movies.  Writing a script is putting a daydream on paper.   Shooting is the process of drawing that daydream into the realm of reality. Seeing that dream play out for a flesh and blood audience is, well, when it happens to you, you’ll understand.

So, where did SCREAM, ZOMBIE, SCREAM come from?  I had just put out LOVE SLAVES OF THE  SHE-MUMMY, was itching to make another movie.  While I didn’t really want to make another living dead movie, I had to face the fact that I was going to make a movie without recognizable Stars.  However, in the world of Fantasy, Horror and Science Fiction, the plot is the star.  If I wanted to make a movie a lot of people wanted to see, I had to go with the flow.
Sci-Fi and Fantasy require special props and costumes, and price themselves out of the micro-budget class. That leaves Horror, but I had no interest in the current trend of torture and psychotic puppets. That left the monster genre.   I couldn’t bring myself to get involved with sexy teenage vampires and angst ridden werewolf kids.

We live in the Age of Recycling. We recycle, repurpose and reuse anything we can, including ideas.
We claim to love originality and creativity, but actually, we ultimately always return to the tried and true.  As a Mass Communications major, I was taught that nothing can ever be more than 15% new.  So, if one is careful and analytical, one can detect several element of SCREAM, ZOMBIE, SCREAM as having established origins, but what’s the fun in that?  So what if I took a pinch of Jekyll and Hyde, a touch of Frankenstein, a little Orwell and some Romero?  It’s a Zombie movie, not a serious statement on the Human condition.  Or is it?

Anyway, bowing to convention and hoping to ride the current wave of interest in zombies, I would concoct a tale of ravaging undead. But I had a problem.  Most zombie movies involve an army of zombies terrorizing and devouring an entire community.  That wasn’t going to happen on my budget.  So, how do I tell a worthwhile story using only one zombie a time? Well, I would have to build a new kind of Zombie.

However, I was also conscious of just how many zombie movies there are, and I was reluctant to commit to what I feared was an exhausted genre.  As it turns out, it was and is not, but I still had to put my own spin on it. There are two kinds of zombies.  In my classification system, the real Voodoo zombies, who are victims of ritual drugging and brainwashing, constitute Type 1. They are living people who think they are dead.  There hasn’t been a voodoo zombie movie in ages.  Type 2 zombies are the typical walking corpses, who escape from their graves to attack the Living.  I needed a new species of zombie, one created by science for the selfish purposes of the scientist.  Which purposes?  Why, to rule the world.  What other reason is there?

A successful movie needs a memorable title.  I went through several until I settled on SCREAM, ZOMBIE SCREAM.  I wanted “zombie” in the title, but I also knew that I needed to imply action, so I needed a good action verb in the title, too.  However, I refused to do another “ATTACK OF THE …” anything.  Screaming is associated with madness, and I had the line about how you had to have a soul to scream, so SCREAM, ZOMBIE, SCREAM seemed like a good original choice.  Then I remembered SCREAM, BLACULA, SCREAM, and SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN.  Too late.

A brilliant bi-polar renegade has the power to turn living people into vicious zombies.  OK, nothing new there, but what if he could turn you back afterward?  Consider the possibilities.  We pick up the story with our loony, who has the temerity to call himself “Orpheus”, reveling in the sight of the President of the United States gutting a scientist on live TV.  The response to this by the Nation is to have a ruthless federal agent break his former partner, who had gone crazy fighting zombies,  out of a high security psychiatric facility and set him and a very cute but dangerous female assistant, on a variety of zombies.  We got our zombie Holocaust, just one zombie at a time.

To accomplish this film, I decided to shoot the whole movie using Green Screen chroma key, a system most people have come to know as enabling the filmmaker to put his subject into any image as a background.  All I needed was the actors and a few pieces of furniture and I could turn any room into anyplace imaginable.  Except that it paralyzes the camera.  If you move the camera, the subject moves but the background remains stationary, giving the whole scene a sloppy, amateurish appearance.  So, all my shots had to be made, locked down, from the same place.  Never again!

I rented a vacant one-room apartment in the North Hollywood building where I lived and set up my studio there.  The large living room became my sound stage.  The kitchen became the makeup room, and the bath room became very hard to get into at times.   We shot over ten weekends, April through June of 2010, and got very good shots, some of which were unusable due to street noise and the fact that we were shooting under the final approach to Burbank airport.

You need two elements to make a film, Time and Money.  The Micro-budget realm seeks to transcend this by shooting for pocket change whenever the cast and crew can get it together. So, how much did SCREAM, ZOMBIE, SCREAM cost?  To tell you the truth, I didn’t keep track.  I worked without a budget, just spending whatever I needed to. The actors got $50 a day, the studio cost $700 a month, the makeup artist got $200 a day, I spent several hundred dollars on props and costumes and thousands on equipment I intended to use again. The finances on this project are a convoluted mess, but I didn’t do it for money.  I can’t tell you how much the film cost. I never expected it to make any money, so I never expected to have to account for any.  If I had to give an estimate, I’d probably guess something in the $10 – $15,000 range. I had been saving up for it for a couple years and I knew I had enough to finish.  I even have some cash left over for the next one.

Having little in the way of production values, the actors had to work hard to sell what I always recognized as a truly preposterous concept.  I deliberately wrote the script to be short, since I knew it would get stupid if I let it run too long.  I was constantly coaching the actors to put a lot of energy and personality into the portrayals. Sometimes they listened and sometimes they just puttered along.  Usually, the inconsistencies in the acting were due to the lack of rehearsal time we could use.  Also, I cheated and had several of the actors play more than one role. This dilutes their concentration.

A few of the actors were exceptional.  Devai Pearce, who originally auditioned for the part of “Jo Ann”, Orpheus’ pregnant zombie girlfriend, ended up playing 4 parts, as well as functioning as assistant director, talent coordinator, mic boom operator, cue card writer, and anything else I had to throw at her.

There could not have been a better choice than William Reinbold, who played Orpheus. He had to undergo violent mood swings and did so skillfully.

Andy Mullins as the Shock Jock did a fabulous job.  This was a particularly important part to me, since I had at one time been a radio talk show host and had modeled the character,” Gary Z”, after a real talk show host, the late Gary Dee, with whom I had worked in Cleveland.  He was incredible.  He makes Howard Stern look like an amateur.  Andy’s zombie ate Wayne Hellstrom as the TV interviewer. Andy also hosts a celebrity show as” Red Karpett”.

The venal televangelist, “Rev. JE$$ Ble$$”, was ably played by Gregg Stickeler, a full-time business professional who finds time to be semi-professional actor.  He is a filmmaker in his own right and was the star of my previous feature LOVE SLAVES OF THE SHE-MUMMY.  His character is a TV preacher who is so phony, he wrote his own bible. He is a parody of all those “God-wants-your-money” hucksters who pollute the airwaves.  This was a touchy part to write, since I had to avoid all reference to any real religious values and symbols.  Gregg had to read the absurd gibberish I wrote as if it really were the Gospel

Supporting players Marco Tazioli and Galen Sato played two roles each as did Andy Mullins.  The exquisitely beautiful and talented Branca Ferrazo was cast sight unseen over the phone when the actress who had originally committed to the role de-committed. She played a starlet named “Brittany Normandie” opposite Bouvier’s ”Dawn Rivers” and a news anchor who gets zombie-beat while reading the news with Michael Swinehart.  Sometimes you just get lucky.

I also got lucky with Maria Olsen, a tremendously talented and enthusiastic performer.  She is well known in the independent film community as someone who will act for anyone if she likes the project.  She is a professional character actress who also generously helps promote the work of others.  If you saw PERCY JACKSON AND THE LIGHTING THIEF, you will recognize her as the teacher/fury.

The real stars of the movie were Tony Gracia and Raeshia Oli as the two dedicated zombie stompers. Our villain was not Orpheus, who is really the Problem. The real heavy is “Agent Schmeterling”, the nasty G man who makes more trouble for the heroes than the nut job.  Albert Marrero Jr. bullied his way magnificently through the part.  Even Bouvier, the star of Andy Milligan’s SURGIKILL, for which I wrote the original script, makes a guest star appearance as the secret ruler of the world.  She appears as “Dawn Rivers”, her stage name in Andy’s last personal film, MONSTROSITY.

A pregnant Zombie needs a lullaby.  I wrote one.
You can hear The Zombie Lullaby in a video I made on YouTube.  I was able to get it recorded at a
professional recording studio owned by a friend of Devai, Theo Mordey. He recorded
Devai singing her own tune, and processed it so she would harmonize with herself.
It was not a part of the original script but it came out so creepy that I used
it as background music for a couple of Devai’s scenes.

I wanted to see if I could find rhymes for ZOMBIE.  I remember a cartoon series in the ‘60’s called Milton the Monster.  It had a character named Abecrombie the
Zombie. That was the only known rhyme for zombie, for a long time.   I was only able to find two more. Taking the part “–ombie”, I went down the alphabet shopping for rhymes.  A-ombie, no.  B-ombie, OK, BOMB BE.  Hence the lyric, “Though every gun and bomb be aimed to shatter your sweet head…” c,d,e,f,g, all the way to M.  M-ombie  “ ..will I your loving Mom be..” etc.   After M, nothing.

We plowed through the shooting and I embarked on the task of editing the final film.  So, why is it
just coming out now?  How many excuses can you stand?  3 times my computer crashed and took my edits with it.  I got sick, I moved, I finished the film 4 times and discovered I didn’t like the way
it came out.  I finally got it to look halfway decent and kicked it out of the nest to fly or die on its own.

Regional Horror Films book offers interesting interviews and long list of films

By Doug Gibson

If you're a cult- or alternative-film fan/geek like I am, and I assume most of our readers are, then Brian Albright has provided a great service with his latest McFarland Publishers book, "Regional Horror Films, 1958-1990: A State-by-State Guide with Interviews." (here) The book is comprised in two parts: a series of interviews with directors or persons otherwise associated with regional horror films; and a lengthy, fairly complete listing, state-by-state, of regional, ultra low-budget horrors for the 32 years covered.

Albright correctly describes a regional film as shot outside of the entertainment industry, or southern California, and not associated with a major, or even minor, studio. In many cases, these were labors of love, or hobbies that turned into several-year projects, punctuated by stubborn persistence by the filmmakers to get the thing done. What's fairly consistent through the interviews that Albright gathered -- probably over several years since some of the essays are from 2008 -- is that the filmmakers saw little, or no money, from their endeavors. Distributors took all the cash, the films were pirated and sold throughout the nation and world, the made-for-video market collapsed in the late 1980s ... survivors of the original filmmaker sold the film for a quick buck, and so on. (It would be interesting for McFalarland to publish a book on the many ways ways small-time, regional filmmakers were shut out of whatever cash flow came from their films.)

It's wise that Albright resists the urge to provide interviews involving regional films that hit it big and spawned imitators, such as "The Evil Dead" or "Night of the Living Dead." While their stories are fascinating, there is more than enough articles and books out there for fans to go to. Instead, Albright picks an eclectic group to interview. I particularly enjoy the interview with Robert Burrill, the man behind "The Milpitas Monster." Although previously published in FilmFax, the story of how a school and a small city banded together to make an ecological monster film, partially as a protest against a larger city critic's slamming of said city, is interesting. What started out as a short literally grew, like a monster, into a finished film.

In fact, future filmmakers can learn from some of the stories, including Donald Barton of Florida, who cobbled together investors willing to put in almost $100,000 to make "Zaat," a story about a scientist who turns himself into a catfish monster. (Barton even got a local Baptist church to help out!) After seeing "Zaat" falter and even be turned into other titles by distribution deals that yielded no money, Barton shelved his movie for 30 years before fans convinced him to publicize it on the Web, show it -- to a big crowd -- at an locla theater, and (later) move it back into DVD distribution. Amazingly, I watched "Zaat" recently on Turner Classic Movies' TCM Underground series; a similar "distinction" was awarded another Florida regional film listed in the compendium, "Carnival Magic," directed by the late Al Adamson. (It was also fascinating to learn that regional horror films were easier to make due to tax write offs that were unfortunately eliminated by Congress, strangling the genre by the latter half of the 1980s.)

It'd be nice to see a TCM Underground showing for regional director, J.R. Bookwalter, who is interviewed by Albright, mostly about "The Dead Next Door," his homage to Romero's zombie movies that for a while, received some support from "The Evil Dead" director Sam Raimi. Bookwalter eventually moved into low-budget producing and distribution, and it's facinating to read about the details of that industry. It may be the only viable way for most talented micro-budget regional horror filmmakers to make some bucks.

I also enjoyed the interview with the eccentric Milton Moses Ginsberg, who crafted the bizarre monster/political film, "The Werewolf of Washington," a staple today for horror movie hosts looking to cheaply lampoon public domain films. Ginsberg, who admits to being most horrified by "The Wolfman" as a youngster, created in the early 1970s what seems like a natural take off on the Watergate ... except that the film was hatched and created prior to the Watergate scandal breaking. In any event, it's a prescient regional film, and (of course) died quickly at the box office, before being pirated to the VHS and DVD market.

As mentioned, the compendium is fairly complete, and includes at least a paragraph, and most often more, on the hundreds of regional films included. A lot of low-budget cult figures are covered pretty well in the list, including Andy Milligan and Bill Rebane. The video nasty Utah regional horror, "Don't Go In the Woods ... Alone," is included, as well as the interesting, Texas regional from the 1960s, "The Black Cat." The pre-porno adult regional filmmakers are mentioned from time to time, including the late Barry Mahon's "The Sex Killer," which captures many bleak late-1960s shots of the New York City business districts.

A lot of the films mentioned in this book, including "Black Cat" and Milligan's "Torture Dungeon," would be great picks for future TCM Underground selections. Let's hope the brains behind that series is reading Albright's book..