Dollar Store Cinema Double Feature!

For those of you wondering, yes, I'm still diligently working on various comic book projects. At this writng, I'm a mere three pages from finishing the pencil work on Salem, AZ#1. Rest assured, there will be plenty on display here very soon. But, in the meantime, I'm watching more bad horror movies than I should admit to.

This time I give you a "Dollar Store Cinema Double Feature," featuring Atom Age Vampire and Dr. Jekyll vs the Werewolf (yeah, you read that right).

Atom Age Vampire is almost too good for this segment and is only a "b" movie as a matter of circumstance.

After the beautiful dancer Janette (played with sultry glamour by Susanna Loret) is dumped by her boyfriend, she, in a fit of restless despair, suffers a horrible car accident, hideously scarring her once beautiful face. Lying in a hospital bed, suffering from the blackest depression, Jeanette is given a glimpse of hope from Monique, a beautiful, mysterious assistant to the sinister Professor Levin. Desperate to repair her mutilated face, Jeanette finds herself the latest experiment of the bizarre doctor, and an accomplice to a series of savage murders committed to maintain the effects of her restored beauty.

There are a few aspects of this film that the box doesn't cover. One of which is more of a misnomer. Jeanette doesn't exactly volunteer for the experiment and there's more to the mad doctor than meets the eye. All things considered, this was a pretty damn cool movie. Find it, buy it, even if it costs you $1.99, which is actually what I paid for it.

I tried to google a decent picture of Susanne Loret, but this is the best I could do.

And that brings us to Dr. Jekyll vs. the Werewolf, not exactly one of Italy's finest exports.

Tired of turning into a wolf, a man seeks a cure from Dr. Jekyll's grandson. RUNTIME: 76 MINUTES.

That's pretty much all the box says. Sounds like a pretty cool plot, right? I don't think the guy that wrote the little synopsis actually watched the movie and I can't say as I blame him. Now, I'll admit I watched this movie over a quart of Miller High-Life, but I don't think that had anything to do with how bad it was. 76 minutes never seemed so long. It reminded me of an Igmar Bergman movie, just not shot as well.

The movie's only saving grace was one Shirley Corrigan (below), which made it a buck well spent.

Next time, a bit of a departure as Dollar Store Cinema brings you Moon of the Wolf, starring the fugitive himself David Janssen (much to his shame, I'm sure).

Dollar Store Cinema Returns!

Here's the thing about October. I watch a lot of monster movies in October. When else can you get away with it, right? Luckily, dollar stores realize this so there's no short supply of crappy monster movies to be found. I call them "monster movies" instead of "horror movies" because, well, they're just not scary, which would imply horror. At least to me.

Today, I picked up a copy of Atom Age Vampire, which is actually almost too good for my "Dollar Store Cinema" review, but more on it later. Instead, as promised, I give you...Bloody Pit of Horror!

A group of photographers and models arrive at an Italian castle owned by a deranged ex-actor who is the reincarnation of the notorious medieval torturer, the Crimson Executioner. When he discovers that his ex-girlfriend is among the group, the enraged madman subjects them to his dungeon of torture. With scantly clad victims pleading for mercy as they face unendurable tortures, Bloody Pit of Horrors is a titillating over-the-top European horror epic.

The box had me at "titillating." This movie delivers, too, folks and "over-the-top" is putting it lightly. A bevvy of barely-dressed Italian beauties is chased around the creepy, old castle by one mantastic Mickey Hargitay, father (with a little help from Jane Mansfield) of the lovely and talented Marishka Hargitay, whom some of you may recall from previous blogs, is one of the few reasons TV was invented. But I digress.

Bloody Pit of Horror's seemingly inexhaustible supply of screaming cheesecake is only matched by an almost laughable, if not downright disturbing amount of mancake supplied by Hargitay. Perhaps that is the true horror within this bloody pit. It's a "b" movie in its purest form and must be seen to be believed. It might sound like I'm putting this movie down, I'm really not. If you can find it, buy it, but don't pay more than a buck for it and you won't be disappointed.

Next time, as promised, Atom Age Vampire! God bless the Italians...