Random Film of the Week(end): The Devil Within Her

the devil within herBad horror movies come in all types, but 1975’s The Devil Within Her (or I Don’t Want to Be Born) gets its own special place in film history for a few reasons. As you’re watching it and being completely baffled, amused and probably annoyed at what’s onscreen, you’ll probably wonder just what the hell got some very talented actors to commit to such an incredibly dumb movie. Just get a good look at that poster to the left and yes, your brain is popping already, right?

Then again, trying to make sense of this complete and utter mess is nothing but futile, as the movie does possibly the worst job at explaining its craziness in the first place. A “possessed” baby with super strength, a killer dwarf (or is it the baby?), a few bizarre murders (some of which are hilarious and/or unexpected), strippers, an exorcism and plenty of baffling dialog make this one an instant classic (provided you’ve got a good sense of humor)…

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Random Film of the Week (Corporate Edition): Rollerball

rollerball_ver2_xlgSo, I’m looking over the notes for my Prometheus plot dissection (which probably won’t be as critical as my picking apart of The Thing from a few months ago), and that fun GE robot ad pops up. While writing up that last post about it, I got to thinking about a few of my sci-fi flicks that had evil corporations running things unto the ground for the purposes of profit and proving class struggle is a useless pursuit.Oh, what a fun time that was (he said, depressingly).

Norman Jewison’s excellent Rollerball was one of the first films that popped into my head (along with Soylent Green and Logan’s Run in case you’re interested) and amusingly enough, it just so happens to have popped up on cable recently. For the younger crowd out there, stay FAR away from the truly terrible 2001 remake and check out the darker, more violent and surprisingly deep 1975 original.

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Random Film of the Week: BUG

(thank you, Trash Trailers!) 

BUG (1975)Even though it was released two full weeks before Stephen Spielberg’s JAWS, the late William Castle’s final production, BUG was somewhat destined to fail. Despite some fine direction by Jeannot Szwarc and an intense performance as Bradford Dillman starring as the doomed Dr. James Parminter and plenty of startling deaths (well, startling to an 11-year old me), the film probably freaked too many people out with its swarms of over-sized fire-starting cockroaches causing all sorts of flaming mayhem throughout a small town after they start popping up after an earthquake.

What makes the film work as a nice horror/sci-fi blend is the sheer craziness of the insects from hell being able to start fires anywhere they crawled (which again, leads to some nasty demises throughout the flick) and Parminter’s supremely stuborn insistence on tampering with them even more with his research.

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Random Film of the Week: Race With the Devil

 

race with the devilAmazingly enough, other than an announcement back in 2005 that seems to have never happened, no one has thought of remaking this rather cool 1975 horror flick that had some really interesting casting and a few genuinely scary bits.

Two couples on a road trip through Texas in their new RV accidentally come across a coven of devil worshipers performing a human sacrifice. They’re seen, but manage to escape with some effort, making their way to a small town where they let the local lawman in on what they’ve seen. Of course, the shady sheriff turns out to be one of the satanists (eek!), and the four end up high-tailing it away, but not before swiping some evidence to present to the police in a larger, more populated city.

This leads to a much longer and more action-packed chase (that camper sure takes a beating here) that may have influenced Mad Max series director George Miller to some extent (at least, to my pointy head). Anyway, I won’t spoil the ending at all here, but let’s just say it’s a nice jolt and in a way, fitting. At a brisk 88 minutes, the solid direction, tight editing and nicely realistic performances from the leads (Peter Fonda, Warren Oates, Loretta Swit and Lara Parker) makes this a memorable popcorn flick, especially if teamed up with a similarly-themed flick such as Steven Speilberg’s influential TV movie, Duel (look for the longer European release for that one).