NURSE SHERRI: POSSESSED RN

In 1978 the drive-ins were still the best place to find horror films. Always treated like the red headed step child they were the bread and butter for those passion pits across the country. The movies that played there ranged from mainstream films to low budget flicks but the low budget horror film seemed to fill those outdoor screens on a regular basis.

With the success of THE EXORCIST and CARRIE it wasn’t long before bits and pieces of both were used in some of these films. NURSE SHERRI used plot points from the first and ad images from the second. The end result is a movie that isn’t all that great and doesn’t quite make the “so bad it’s good” ranks. But it does come close and is a part of drive-in history so I was glad to see it given this new treatment by Vinegar Syndrome.

The story involves a cult leader named Reanhauer (Bill Roy) whose small group listens to him as he tells them one of their number recently deceased will be raised from the dead if they only have faith. While the tone here seems to draw connections to the occult it’s never quite stated for sure that this is a devil worshipping cult or not. Needless to say the leader’s promises of rising the now rotting corpse fall through and during a last ditch effort to pull it off he has a heart attack and is rushed to the hospital.

He dies on the operating table but not before he has the chance to pass his soul off onto Nurse Sherri (Jill Jacobson). Lying in bed we watch as a green glowing blob makes its way beneath her door and wraps around her, transferring his soul. The effects are cheap but work, at least for this low budget flick.

Angry that the doctors performed the operation without his permission Reanhauer now Sherri decides to have his vengeance on the surgical team. Killing them off is the intent and that doesn’t matter who it involves, including Sherri’s boyfriend and head surgeon Dr. Desmond (Geoffrey Land). The killings are fairly tame for movies of the time let alone by today’s standards with little visuals but plenty of blood.

With such a small amount of story to work with the film is padded with so much extra it almost feels like it was made up of various films tossed together. The whole sequence with the cult in the beginning seems to take forever. A side story involving a pro-football player who’s been in an accident that caused him to lose his sight is tossed in as well as the adoring fan and fellow nurse who is attracted to him.

Don’t be fooled, this movie is definitely one of those ultra-low budget films that were there to sell popcorn and to offer something on the screen that horny teens could care less about while at the drive-in. That being said there is a certain amount of charm to the movie. It might not be something to watch on a regular basis but a night of bad drive-in flicks would be complete if this were in the line-up.

There is another group who will demand that this film be added to their collection and that’s fans of director Al Adamson. Adamson is well known for his low budget films and as co-founder of Independent-International Pictures he had plenty of chances to make movies that filled those outdoor screens for years. Perhaps his best known films were SATAN’S SADIST, a biker flick, DRACULA VS FRANKENSTEIN and THE NAUGHTY STEWARDESSES. His films have been rediscovered in recent years and this one is certain to be a must have.

I’d seen this film years ago on DVD but forget who released it at that time. Needless to say the quality offered for the film was severely lacking. Vinegar Syndrome treats the film as if it was a rare gem to be polished and presented in the best possible way releasing it for the first time on blu-ray. The film was restored using the best prints available using the 35mm original negative. Not only that there are more extras included here than can be found on some major motion picture releases. These include a commentary track with producer Sam Sherman, NURSES CONFESSIONS a featurette with co-stars Jill Jacobson and Marilyn Joi, THEN AND NOW a locations featurette, a promotional still gallery, the original trailers and reversible cover artwork. The disc also includes an alternate feature length “exploitation” version of the film called KILLER’S CURSE.

Several companies have made it their goal to resurrect lost treasures like this one and Vinegar Syndrome continues to do a bang up job of it. If you’ve seen this film before the odds are you haven’t seen it in as clean a version as presented here. Adamson fans should grab a copy immediately. Horror fans should consider picking up a copy as well. And lovers of drive-in flicks will find this one worth buying too.

Click here to order.