When I first moved to Indiana the only theater in town was a
drive-in. I spent many a summer there and was able to develop a decent movie
poster collection when the owner told me he threw away those posters and I
offered to take them off his hands. Among those posters was one that someone
had used the back of to announce an upcoming movie but it was the actual poster
that caught my eye. It was for this movie, one that had played before I was
driving and able to go there with friends. I’d never heard of it but it
intrigued me and friends who had seen it told me how scary it was.
It wasn’t until the VHS boom that I was finally able to see
the actual film. I watched it and wasn’t all that impressed having built up my
expectations based on that poster and the word of mouth on the movie. Sure it
was a decent horror film but by this time I’d seen three George Romero zombie
films and countless others as well. This movie lacked the fine tuning of those
when it came to quality of production, screenwriting, etc.
So now the movie comes out from VCI in blu-ray format.
They’ve released it earlier in standard DVD format but this was a special
edition. Has it improved in the 44 years since it was first released? Truth be
told, yes it has. I was surprised at how much better it seemed after all this
time. Not only that but the quality of the print here, remastered by VCI for
this edition, actually made a difference as well. No washed out tones, not
scenes too dark to see in and sharper than before, enough so that the titles
seemed to pop off the screen.
The movie is definitely 70s material with a hip acting
troupe taking a small boat out to a mysterious island that director Alan (Alan
Ormsby) says is haunted and filled with the dead bodies of murderers and
criminals. The island does have a huge graveyard in it, one that we saw a
gruesome ghoul of a creature digging in and attacking the caretaker. Alan moves
his group through the wooded areas of the island, across the graveyard and to
an old abandoned building that they break into.
He has brought the troupe here with the intent of raising
the dead with a book of demonic spells calling upon Satan to help him. At the
same time what might be his bigger objective is to insure that all members are
put in their place, beholden to him for a paycheck and willing to do whatever
he tells them to. Their inclusion in this ceremony is just an example of his
control over their lives.
The group heads to the cemetery and digs up a grave, Alan
speaks the spell in the book and…well I’ll leave that surprise for those who
haven’t seen the film. Once that finishes he orders the group to take the body
that was in the grave back to the house where he talks to it, ridicules it and
basically tempts fate with his desecration of a corpse. Stereotypical
characters surround him from the diva to the handsome lead actor to the trippy
backstage assistant who seems to see something mystical in all things.
Eventually all come together when the spell that Alan uttered actually raises
the dead and people begin to fall under their attacks. Just who if any will
survive and how they can fight this evil waits to be seen.
The first thing many should know about this film is that it
was directed by Bob Clark, listed here as Benjamin Clark. If that name sounds
familiar it should. Clark went on to direct the cult classic horror film BLACK
CHRISTMAS, then created/directed the PORKY’S movies, the great Sherlock Holmes
movie MURDER BY DECREE and eventually A CHRISTMAS STORY, that perennial
favorite come Christmas time. When this film was made he was just starting out
having directed only two other features by this time. What he accomplished here
with a miniscule budget and an aspiring cast is quite good actually. There is
some dialogue that is questionable when it comes to being believed but much of
it rings true. You can actually believe that these characters are saying what
was written. The hippy/trippy portions that are found might seem dated at best
but there were plenty of movies using that same style of dialogue at the time.
The movie itself offers a few jump moments and actually does
have some truly scary parts that will be sure to haunt the dreams of young
viewers who are allowed to watch. The movie is unrated and doesn’t include any
nudity but the gore effects (quite well for the time) and mentions of Satan
will make this a movie parents will want to offer supervised if at all. For
most it will be a harmless creature feature, one that terrified their parents
years ago but might seem mild for kids these days.
This version comes along with a load of extras that will
please most fans of the film as well as horror film collectors. Included are
liner notes, commentary tracks featuring Alan Ormsby, Jane Daly and Anya
Cronin, an alternate UK version with commentary by Alan Ormsby, a tribute to
Bob Clark, a grindhouse Q&A session from a screening of the film,
interviews, music videos, trailers, radio spots and more.
Look, I grew up with the drive-in as a source of
entertainment with new movies twice a week. Some were the best Hollywood had to
offer at the time, some were low budget films that were coming out and many of
the second features were movies that were there just to offer a second film.
Those movies were made by people who loved movies, who wanted to make the
attempt at creating something original and who wanted to see their efforts on
the big screen. That the people behind this went on to make bigger films (those
noted by Clark as well as Ormsby going on to write MY BODYGUARD, CAT PEOPLE and
THE SUBSTITUTE) shows that in some of the smallest films there is talent
waiting to explode. That they could make a movie this good with no budget
speaks volumes as well. Kudos to VCI for making sure that a movie like this
isn’t lost and has received such caring treatment. If you love horror movies
then this is a must have for your collection.
Click here to order.
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