Scared to Death, Because of Bela Lugosi?

No one can scare someone to death better than Bela Lugosi.  In a wealthy and mysterious family everyone has a motive for murder.  There's always a beautiful dame or two to be in peril, and mad scientist type brutes that would seek to imperil them...then Bela Lugosi pops in for a visit, and before we know it, there's a body...corpse!  Our feature today is 1946's "Scared to Death," directed by Christy Cabanne.

As our film begins, the beautiful Laura Van Ee's (Molly Lamont) corpse is on a slab in the morgue.  No marks of violence and no apparent cause of death are apparent, mystifying the coroner. Now Laura, from the other side, flashes back on just what happened to her. A day or two ago, Laura was a grouchy wife to Ward (Roland Varno). Her father-in-law, Dr. Joseph Van Ee (George Zucco) hates her and demands she give his son a divorce. Laura won't divorce Ward and claims she is not done with him. Laura claims the good doctor and Ward are keeping her prisoner in the mansion. Then guess who arrives! Right, Bela Lugosi as the weird Professor Leonide...and his trusted midget, Indigo (Angelo Rossitto). Why? Dr. Ee is not happy to see him.  See, Leonide used to be an inmate in the mansion when it was an asylum. He escaped and fled to Europe, only to return now.

Enter Raymond (Nat Pendleton).  He's a private eye, fired from the police, and now in charge of security at the mansion. He's hot for the perky maid, Lilybeth (Gladys Blake). He's also not that bright. Outside a specter wearing a green mask haunts and looks in the windows. Someone sends Laura a sculpture of her own head, disconcerting her. Now Laura is afraid but she will not tell us why. Leonide, apparently, is a magician and adept at hypnosis.  Coincidentally, Lilybeth goes into a hypnotic trance. The green masked figure keeps lurking. Then two reporters arrive, Lee (Douglas Fowley) and the nubile Jane (Joyce Compton). Lee is smart and Jane is sultry and playful, which are great for this plot. Laura fears whatever is outside closing in on her as more fall into hypnotic trances.  Then...we do find out what happened to Laura and why.

Is Laura really dead?  If Lilybeth and Jane are entranced in a hypnotic spell, what will the hypnotist have them do?  Is Professor Leonide really the antagonist here, or is that too easy?  The dames are in much peril, the men are menacing, and the figure in the green mask is spooky.  For a lurid mystery during the Halloween season, see "Scared to Death."

American Fright Fest, Dozens Shredded

A chainsaw! An axe! Electricity! A shotgun! Those are only some of the props that will work the plot in 2018's "American Fright Fest" in order to mutilate and destroy dozens of poor schmucks. This isn't one of those slasher films that ends up with a kill count of five, or six, or even nine or ten. The kills will be in the dozens...count if you can, but I would estimate between 40 and 50. Plot? Like there is any time for a plot...nevertheless we will delve into that now.

Spencer Crowe (Dylan Walsh) is a famous low-budget horror film maker. You remember "Death Bitch," don't you? He just got out of rehab (it didn't work) for drugs and alcohol. His lawyer gets him a job in a small town to run their Halloween Fright Fest. An abandoned mental asylum will be handed over to him and he'll convert it to a haunted house attraction. His past cast members will join him, they also need jobs. Uh oh, the drunk Spencer drives down a road causing a prison bus to crash. The crash sees two psychos escape, Ruben (Jonathan Camp) and Mason (Luke Baines). They immediately head to the abandoned asylum just as the attraction opens to the public.

Ruben is the mean one. He'll mow through cops, security, and actors like crap through a goose. The most heartbreaking one (okay, gratuitous, but maybe not heartbreaking) is Maxine (Ashley Blankenship). Maxine is a large breasted blonde actress who is very proud of her two assets...Ruben will make short work of her. Meanwhile Spencer locks himself in the control room, witnesses all the carnage, and taunts Ruben...he's high as a kite, as they say. Hunks and babes will die horribly and Taylor (Madison McKinley) who plays a horror-nurse at the attraction, seems to emerge as a potential final girl. Double uh oh, another escapee Mason, joins the potential victims, and desires to kill Ruben claiming he knows how evil he is...but is Mason really one of the good-guys?

Does Mason seek to stop the killing, or to continue it? Will the very pretty Maxine have what it takes to kill the psycho (or psychos) and perhaps get to slap Spencer in the face? Is Spencer really secure locked away in the control room, or does an extremely bloody fate await him? This is a bloody one and the kills will be thrown at you in rapid succession. Directed by Ante Novakovic, and shot in Pennsylvania, "American Fright Fest" is one of those slasher films that doesn't keep the kill count in single figures.
 

The Barn: Part II, The Gore and Demons are Back

After "The Barn," there were many unanswered questions.  Even though most people on the screen died horribly, there was still the fate of the virgin Michelle (Lexi Dripps) left up in the air. Was she eaten?  Was she de-virginized?  Was she pulled into the realm of the demons?  Also, what of the two landscaping hunks, Sam (Mitchell Musolino) and Josh (Will Stout)?  It looked like they were about to be heroes when they were presumably sucked into hell. Good news!  In the sequel, a sorority filled with babes will open the haunted house in the barn three years later.  Our feature today is 2022's "The Barn: Part II," directed by Justin Seaman.  This one is set in 1992.

Despite the horror she endured when her BF was sucked into hell and had some demon awake in her van, Michelle is now in college and volunteers to help her sorority do an open house for Halloween.  She will take the lead with Josh' babe sister Heather (Sable Griedel). Why? Never mind.  The two babes and the entire sorority work the barn, the same one from the last movie. Yep, out of the well in the back, demons are conjured and will end up murdering all the sorority babes in gory fashion and turning them into demons.  Nudity, BDSM, kinky pillow fighting, and other deviance are what the sisters were doing just before being ripped apart or disemboweled.  Now Heather and Michelle are the only sisters left, and Michelle has a new BF, Charlie (Chad Bruns), the nerd at the video store.  He will fight the demons with his crutches.

Now Michelle is overmatched, but also out of the well, Josh and Sam emerge.  Yep, Josh has the holy weed killer.  With these two experienced demon hunters, the two sorority babes at least stand a chance. The demons are back in full force and have made the entire town into demons, too. May I say that Heather and Michelle look terrific in their Halloween costumes? Okay, I should also say many terrific cameos occur in this sequel, including Lloyd Kaufman as the mayor, Linnea Quigley as the church lady, Joe Bob Briggs and Diana Prince,  and Ari Lehman. The pumpkin, miner, and scarecrow demons are back to inflict death with pick-axes, sickles, and a wonderful assortment of bladed weapons.  Most of this film will be an all out bloody war.

Packed with gore, guts, and severed limbs and heads, this film is a must see for fans of the first "Barn" film.  It is also a great homage to late 80s, early 90s slasher fare.  With a sultry cast of sorority babes, most will die horribly, a few hunks, and some neat 1980s and 1990s slasher talent, "The Barn: Part II" is a terrific view on a Friday night in October. 

The Devil Bat, Bela Lugosi as a Mad Scientist

A mad scientist as a lead chemist at a cosmetics company?  Brilliant!  Perhaps a story for our time as the cosmetics industry is solidly cemented into the fabric of women's daily routines throughout the world. The market doubles when men are involved, and some use aftershave lotion like Hai Karate or Brut.  In our film today, Bela Lugosi exploits human vanity and uses it as a means for murder.  Our feature today is 1940's "The Devil Bat," directed by Jean Yarbrough.

Dr. Paul Carruthers (Lugosi) is the chemist for the Martin Heath Cosmetics Company.  The founding partners, Martin heath (Edmund Mortimer) and Henry Morton (Guy Usher) made millions on a cold cream invented by Paul, but only gave him a measly few thousand dollars.  Feeling cheated, Paul invents an aftershave that attracts monster bats.  Monster bats?  Yep, Paul does other experiments.  Using electricity he stimulates the growth glands of bats making them 10 times their usual size.  He also makes them behave viciously when smelling the aftershave. At risk is the entire Heath and Morton families.  Paul gives several members of those families the aftershave as a gift, and they all get their necks torn out by the monster bat.  A reporter, Johnny (Dave O'Brien), arrives to investigate the murders and immediately falls for the Heath daughter, Mary (Suzanne Kaaren).  Of more importance is Johnny's photographer, One-Shot (Donald Kerr) who falls for the Heath's French maid, Maxine (Yolande Donlan).

Maxine is quite a sultry dame, especially in her French maid's costume.  One-Shot takes some alluring pics of her.  Back to the story.  The cops are mystified as no one wants to believe a monster bat is committing the murders even though Mary witnessed one of them.  Even worse, everyone in town trusts Dr. Carruthers .  Johnny isn't from town, however, and is immediately suspicious of the doctor.  As Dr. Carruthers continues giving out his version of Hai Karate more and more people end up with their necks ripped out.  Johnny and One-Shot seek to protect Mary and the nubile and sultry Maxine.  Now Dr. Carruthers understands that Johnny is a threat to him, and that Mary, being a Heath, must be murdered. Dr. Carruthers makes more giant bats, and Johnny comes up with a plan.

Will Maxine and Mary, the servant and the lady of the house, end up in a catfight which will serve as a metaphor for class struggle? No, of course not, this is a Bela Lugosi horror film!  Will Johnny be able to save Mary from the fangs of the giant bat?  Will Dr. Carruthers escape justice and finish his quest for revenge against the two wealthy families?  This is a good one and often overshadowed by more well known films done by Bela Lugosi.  For some nice horror, allure, and creepy sets, see "The Devil Bat." 

Return to Horror High, George Clooney and Maureen McCormick Covered in Blood

Back when this film was released in 1987, audiences may have been annoyed by it. Today, however, it is so much fun. For one, we look back at Marcia-Marcia-Marcia, Maureen McCormick, with fondness and now get to see her as a babe nymphomaniac-sadistic policewoman in uniform covered in blood. I know, we always hoped she would chop up Alice and bathe in her blood, but that old TV show never gave us that. Oh, George Clooney, also clad as a uniformed policeman, before he was George Clooney, is fun to see. Buckets of blood, dozens of severed limbs and heads, and much disembowelment highlight our feature today, "Return to Horror High," directed by Bill Froehlich.

A few years ago a massacre at Crippin High left many a sultry and hunk highschooler in pieces. A few years later, producer Harry Sleerik (Alex Rocco) brings a crew to the site to film a movie about it. The killer was never caught. Josh (Scott Jacoby), the director, wants to make a Stanley Kubrick-type film, but the budget just isn't there for that. The film will star Oliver (Clooney) as the cop who responded to this mess. He'll be chopped up pretty quickly leaving the actual cop, Steve (Brendan Hughes) as a fill-in. Now it should be mentioned the film actually opens with all the film crew in pieces on the front lawn of the school as the police chief (Pepper Martin) and Officer Tyler (McCormick) put the pieces together, limb by limb. Tyler is fantastic as she tries to seduce the chief in all her movement, even covered in blood.

Back to the previous day...what happened?  The female lead is Callie (Lori Lethin) and she will don three roles here.  She plays a nubile high school babe who has many locker room, seduction, and rape scenes. She objects to this and producer Harry muses, "Damn actresses, I shoulda made an animated horror film!" During filming Steve and Callie get close as members of the cast and crew start getting shredded or cut up.  Callie and Steve will have pre-marital sex, figure out the killer is back, and try to find out who it is. Suspects are numerous and all signs point to the killer being a member of the crew or cast. As Callie is put in great peril, in the movie, and in the movie within the movie, sometimes it is hard to figure out which one is which. Nudity, gore, and an alluring Maureen McCormick as a frisky cop in uniform will keep us guessing and interested.

Could either Steve or Callie be the killer?  Will the blood-crazed Marcia Brady, I mean Officer Tyler emerge as the killer?  Are every member of the crew and cast really dead or is there something else going on here?  Fans of 1980s horror and slasher films will love this one, though probably would not have back in the day.  For a different way to look at Marcia Brady, see "Return to Horror High" and then binge-watch "The Brady Bunch" with a different mindset.

Slow Burn, A 100% AI Horror Film by B. Harrison Smith

Here! Now!  Not at the end of the decade.  Not by 2025's end.  Not by Christmas. Now...or maybe in the next 4-6 weeks, to be exact.  So what is here? Maybe the biggest labor/collective bargaining  issue to hit the film industry ever.  The Screen Actor's Guild (SAG) better smarten up. A full length AI movie is the subject of this blog today. It also just happens to be a terrifying horror film.  I know...no need for actors anymore! That is the first thing, I'm sure, moviemaker B. Harrison Smith hears.  Then he has to deal with the criticism that all the human element of this art form is taken out.  Yep, the HAL 9000 will make all our movies. Today we are going to look at "Slow Burn" and answer the myths and fears, mostly voiced by those comfortable in today's status quo. 

To quote Mr. Smith, "This is not about replacing human creativity or 'stealing' art.  It's about exploring what happens when you merge human vision with machine capability. I wrote the original script, and AI is the brush I'm painting with to direct it. People once feared CGI, color and talking films, too."  How many of you remember the 1952 musical "Singin' in the Rain"?  The Gene Kelly musical is set in 1925 and explores Hollywood's fears when the first talkie was released, "The Jazz Singer." An entire industry of silent film makers and actors knew they would all be out of work.  Initially, however, the thought was we did not need talkies and no one would pay to see them. The years went by and Hollywood stayed put. Actors stayed put, or most of them. Musical scores were enhanced and composers were elevated in status on the movie set.  Over all, the introduction of talkies in 1927 did so much good for what we call Hollywood.

"Slow Burn," is less festive and cheerful than "Singin' in the Rain," but Mr. Smith makes horror films. Bob Fosse isn't around anymore to do this with a musical.  This grim and ominous story features a hunk 22-yaer old named Michael, and a sultry college dame named Riley (I maintain she looks just like Denise Richards of the early 1990s).  The director has describe it as "The Last American Virgin" as a horror film.  I saw elements of "Twin Peaks," some Stephen King plot devices, a "John Carpenter's Halloween" type setting, and a contemporary horror element that could spell the doom for many a young person. Irony, satire, and some sweet homages are all blended in to get under your skin.  I also saw the brutal train crash when the America from 10 or 20 years ago crashes into the reality of a 22 year old community college kid with little hope at success and fame in a world steeped in its own versions of castes.  Madness!  Sexual frustration, and or satisfaction!  Edgar Allan Poe views toward the female sex! Throw in motifs from those old Boris Karloff films, and we actually have a creepy and disturbing horror film... AI or no AI.

"Slow Burn" will not be the feel-good-film of 2025.  There are no humorous moments to relieve the tension.  In viewing this film you will fall into an abyss that has you plunging into more and more terror the longer you fall. I will say, from the slasher films I was raised on in the early 80s, "Slow Burn" also may be a morality tale.  No spoilers here, you'll see...eventually.

Oh, remember Lauren-Marie Taylor, the babe from "Friday the 13th: Part 2"?  She's in this.  So all of you that say actors and actresses will be forced out...just ask Ms. Taylor.  As Mr. Smith fine tunes this film, the ability to recognize it as AI diminishes.  I do have to say, does anything about Gary Busey look real when he is in a film?  Do the laser blasts at the end of the original "Star Wars" film look anywhere near real? Just saying.

To not neglect the human element, let's chat about some of the great actors and actresses we love seeing when we go to the movies.  Are they going to be gone?  Fair question. If they are, the filmmakers will do that exclusion at their own peril. B. Harrison Smith has been able to cast some of our favorite actors and actresses in his past films.  Here are just some of them: Sarah French, Barbara Crampton, Kane Hodder, Tony Todd, Cloris Leachman, Tara Reid, Dee Wallace, Sid Haig, Gunnar Hansen, and Debbie Rochon to name just a few.  You will see the likes of Mr. Smith still using this talent, as if they didn't, they would not continue in this industry.  By the way, the pics interlaced in this entry are all from Mr. Smith's AI creation "Slow Burn." 

So what has to happen to make the entry into the AI world of filmmaking nice and smooth? The Union (Screen Actor's Guild and a few others) and the execs need a smart discussion of Name, Image, and Likeness agreements.  Unlike what is going on in college football, there is so much opportunity here for so many to flourish, not just the 120 actors and actresses on the so-called "A-List."  Greed will be a killer, however learning from the mistakes of those who went before you will be a great teacher.  Also, the geeks who do code or bring in the AI technology cannot be unsupervised or let loose to their own devices. The writer, the player (actor or actress), the guy who does the score and music, all have to bring this tech guy along.  The right brain will need a synergy with the left brain.  Remember the scene in "The Right Stuff" when the astronauts insisted the German scientists put a window in the space-capsule?

In 1969 we were all glued in front of our television sets watching man land on the moon, not dogs or monkeys.  There was discussion about just keeping space travel for dogs and monkeys...even President Kennedy said "no way" to that. In the realm of AI, the types of films made will run the spectrum. In either case, to make the film palatable to moviegoers, we do need the Debbie Rochon not an almost perfect facsimile of her.  This is not a plea decrying AI, but rather a plea to continue the improvements and enhancements made with it.

Trying to keep this entry fairly brief, I will end by saying AI is more than what you imagine it is.  Will this be the type of AI that helps cure pediatric cancer, or the Type of AI that has cashiers, and waitresses laid off?  This film, "Slow Burn," took great human effort by a filmmaker, writer, actors and actresses, and yes, a guy to grade the color, etc.  I'm leaving out a lot.  More jobs!  More movies!  More talent being able to make livings in the movies, not just the top 1%.  When "Slow Burn" is available to you, see it!  It is scary and gritty, and an example of how the horror experience can be enhanced by inevitable technology. 

The Brighton Strangler, Sultry British Dame in Uniform in Peril

A play within a movie!  No, not an Irving Berlin spectacular, but a gritty horror film conjuring images of the Jack the Ripper legends.  The setting is a very foggy London and the quiet coastal town of Brighton. This gem, which came out in the final year of World War 2 mixes the classic killer in the fog theme with the horror of air raids and fire bombings which the Germans inflicted on London.  The two will be directly blended and what follows is our film, 1945's "The Brighton Strangler," directed by Max Nosseck.

The play, The Brighton Strangler, has wrapped up.  The stars are giddy, yet exhausted from this drama that has enthralled a besieged city. Besieged by air raids.  The horror of a mysterious strangler seems pale in comparison. Now that the curtains have lowered for the final time, hunk star, Reginald Parker (John Loder), who portrayed the strangler, is set to marry the writer/producer Dorothy (Rose Hobart). Just before Reginald departs the theater, the Germans bomb London and the theater.  Knocked out, Reginald wakes up with some form of Amnesia and believes he is Edward Gray, aka The Brighton Strangler.  He even finds his murder weapon in the pocket of his coat. Now, as Edward Gray, Reginald will take a train to Brighton and kill the people which the strangler murdered in the play.  He's charming and well schooled, thus a sultry dame in uniform, the lovely April (June Duprez) befriends him.

June looks marvelous in the uniform of a WAC (Women's Army Corps).  She is engaged to an American officer, the hunk Bob (Michael St. Angel). When the two depart the train in Brighton, April introduces Edward to her mom and dad who are also taken by his charm. Just like the script calls for, Edward Gray, the strangler, seeks the beloved mayor of Brighton and strangles him to death.  Uh oh...the script calls for several more murders, which also include the wise old police detective (Miles Mandor) on the case. Continuing his charm, April feels a closeness to Edward and confides in him for guidance and help.  The sultry uniformed dame has no idea that the drama, which just closed in London, ends with her own murder. Trickery and deceit enable Edward with alibis and set up a perfect plan for April's murder.  

Will the hunk Bob, American soldier, get wise and flee to Brighton to save his girl?  Did the screening boards in the U.K. use this film as an example of how violence on the stage can influence the youth to do naughty things? Will the sultry and smart appearance of April in a military uniform help with military recruiting in Britain?  This is a scary and suspenseful and Ms. Duprez performs the damsel in peril with allure and perkiness.  Mr. Loder's charm and refinement makes his strangler character just so much more terrifying.  For a foggy and vicious thriller, see "The Brighton Strangler."

Phantom Fun-World, A Real Slasher Film

How many times do we see slasher films when the killer...slashes?  Yep, he has a big knife and instead of jabbing, or poking...he slashes.  Slashes up, slashes down, slashes from one side, slashes from the other side...then turn her around and do all this slashing again.  Real slashing! We have it here...at least on one of the myriad of kills.  The astronomical death count in this film by a really big knife are all gorier than the last.  Remember, knives don't kill people...slashers kill people.  Our feature today is 2023's "Phantom Fun-World," directed by Tory Jones.

17 years ago six employees of Fun-World were slashed...the killer?  Well, eventually you will see exactly what happened all those years ago.  Present day the lovely Andi (Celeste Blandon) is desperate to find a job so she can support her teen-age brother, Cole (Jace Carson). Their mom (Kira L. Wilson)? Well, she has had her problems and now is in  rehab and in a 12-strep program. Andi's bestie, Collins (Spooky Madison) gets her a job at Fun-World on the graveyard shift. On her first night of work, the murders start again.  Before Andi can find her way around, four employees are graphically murdered.  The slasher (L.C. Holt) is just getting started.  He'll go through the graveyard shift and the security guards like crap through a goose.

Soon Cole is dropped off by their mom so he can have fun on his birthday. Andi, Cole, and a very sweet security guard, Noah (Wes Robinson) tour the park. Noah and Andi are hot for one another, so cute. Now the slasher keeps finding employees and murdering them with his knife.  Then he finds Collins and the elongated scene that follows will cause you to turn your head and wince.  Uh oh...our fiend has his sights on Cole, Andi, and Noah.  Surprises ensue and so do some extremely heartbreaking and taboo scenes.

Just who is this killer and does he have plans for Andi?  Now that Andi and Cole's mom is out of rehab, what bearing will she have on the bloody plot?  Will Noah be able to swap spit with Andi or will the slasher pour cold water on that idea?  Gory, ominous, and heartbreaking are three words that sum up this slasher film which will deliver more deaths than a Mariah Carey concert.  See "Phantom Fun-World" and don't be surprised to find yourself averting your eyes from the screen.