Customer Reviews

Drive-In Cult Classics, Vol. 2

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

"Drive-In Cult Classics Volume Two" is a marked improvement on the first volume in the series and features eight films that range from laughable ("The Creeping Terror") to modestly creepy ("Terrified"). All of these films are in the camp-as-high-art genre, and I recommend the set to connoisseurs of B-movies everywhere.

I started off with "They Saved Hitler's Brain", a cinematic travesty made over a decade or so by two different sets of people, starring two different sets of actors. What could possibly go wrong? The basis for the film is the very short 1963 feature "The Madmen of Mandoras", which was apparently shot years earlier and shelved for a while. In the late 1960s (1968 seems the most agreed upon date), some television brain trust wanted to broadcast "The Madmen of Mandoras", but it was too short to fit in a traditional movie time slot. They hired some film school students to shoot additional wraparound footage to boost the running time. The result is one of the most jarring viewing experiences in cinema history, and ranks up there with the very best of Ed Wood or Ray Dennis Steckler for enjoyable camp viewing.

The film opens with the newly shot footage of a smarmy male and a voluptuous female CID agent arguing and engaging in possibly the worst banter in film history. The acting and writing will both make you cringe; the good news is you frequently can't hear what's being said over the loud background music. It seems that the CID is investigating the death of a scientist who was working on the G-Gas project. The dead scientist knew of the antidote, and they discover that Dr. John Coleman another brilliant scientist, has been kidnapped and taken to the South American country of Mandoras.

The G-Gas plot sort of devolves into a "Wild, Wild World of Batwoman" pursuit of evildoers, with the movie going on to feature crazy Nazis planning to take over the world, Hitler's head in a jar (who the cast refers to as "Mr. H") yelling orders in German, a brain dead kidnapping and murder subplot, lots of stock footage, a supremely annoying and pathetic romance subplot, ridiculously inept car chases, doublecrosses, gunplay, explosions, a fire, and Hitler's head melting. Everything is here but the kitchen sink, and that may be here too, just too grainy and out of focus to see.

For someone who adores nonsensical B-movies, "They Saved Hitler's Brain" is a film to marvel at, and I particularly recommend watching it back to back with "The Madmen of Mandoras", conveniently located on the flip side of the DVD.

I really should have watched "The Madmen of Mandoras" first, as it was the earlier of the two films made, and is a much more cogently produced picture. The version here is a new transfer, and looks very good compared with most other films of similar vintage. I started with "They Saved Hitler's Brain" simply because I had seen it before, but "Madmen of Mandoras" was new to me. It has most of the same elements, but is markedly improved over "They Saved Hitler's Brain" for two essential reasons: it is much shorter, and it doesn't have the atrocious CID storyline or actors cluttering up the plot. The film still has plenty of annoying features, notably the little sister subplot (she is the most annoying character in the non-CID version of the film by a mile). From the dumber-than-rocks department, the main characters at one point dump a body in a phone booth in broad daylight; of course they didn't realize he had been shot either, despite sitting in a car next to him. Much like the glorious Ed Wood spectacle "Plan Nine From Outer Space", there are lots of day-versus-night shots, and other marks of schizophrenically idiosyncratic filmmaking techniques on display here. I liked it much more than "They Saved Hitler's Brain", but it's still a laugh-a-minute cheesefest.

"Bloodlust" is yet another retelling of "The Most Dangerous Game", Robert Reed and his inane friends stumble through terrible dialogue and the jungle attempting to evade Dr. Albert Balleau (Wilton Graff) and his henchmen who are dressed like Bastille guards.

Seeing a young Robert Reed is entertaining, but the rest of the cast is perfectly annoying, especially when the two girls have conversations like "May I say it just once more please?"..."What?"..."I'm scared!" The frolicking foursome (and the boat captain) are not terribly ingenious, and in one hilarious scene come up with the worst bluff ever in the history of motion pictures. After thrilling plotpoints such as a clambake, leeches in the quicksand, and taxidermy using a vat of acid, you'll be surprised that when the film is over it's only been 68 minutes long: it will feel like a lot longer.

There are certainly worse movies from the early 1960's, but I didn't need yet another retelling of a story I was first made to read in middle school. The script is terrible and the dialogue and stilted delivery made a potentially gripping early horror movie much less than it should have been. For horror completeists, this is worth seeing once, everyone else can move along.

"The Devil's Hand" is a obscure movie about devil worship in middle income America. It gets two stars for unintentional hilarity and brevity. The quick version is that an ordinary man, Rick Turner (Robert Alda), gives up his entire existence (including his fiancée) when ensnared in a Satanic cult by a witch via thought projection. Early in the film this manifests itself by having him mysteriously drawn to a weird doll shop. It turns out that Frank Lamont, the man who runs this shop, is also the "High Executioner" of the cult and holds rituals and human sacrifices in the stockroom in back. It will not surprise you to see Alda's fiancée (well, ex-fiancée by the end of the film) Donna (Ariadna Welter) as the surprise human sacrifice in the gripping conclusion. There is actually nothing here that will surprise you, as the plot is predictably straightforward right through the end, 71 long minutes after it started.

You might think that this would be a captivating subject for a film, and indeed it could be. Here, though, it isn't for two primary reasons: first, Alda has no issues giving himself over to "Gamba" (as the devil-god is known); second, the film is a showcase for congas and bongos as well as interpretative voodoo dancing. These two ingredients skewer any interest in whatever else may be going on in the film.

Watch for Neil Hamilton (Commissioner Gordon on the "Batman" series) as Frank Lamont in as good of a performance as could be expected given the material, and Bruno VeSota, who many will no doubt remember as Seltzer from the Jerry Warren classic "The Wild, Wild World of Batwoman." While it featured ultra-annoying music, terrible dream sequences, and a ridiculous plot, "The Devil's Hand" still wins for brevity and an utterly ridiculous concept.

"The Creeping Terror" is an all-time B-movie favorite, easily as ridiculous as anything that Ed Wood ever came up with, although with worse production values. The filming was apparently marred by cast and crew departures and numerous technical issues, including loss of the soundtrack, requiring the spliced together monstrosity to be narrated to achieve a modicum of coherence. The first monster disappeared during filming, and a replacement monster was, if anything, even more ridiculous. The monster in question is a giant shag carpet from outer space who comes to Earth to eat coeds, interrupting a honeymoon and causing much horror and hilarity in its wake. This is one of the greatest of all B-movies, and I cannot emphasize how wonderful this film is.

"Land of the Minotaur" is a 1977 Greek production starring Donald Pleasence as Father Roache, a priest who knows how to deal with an ancient, evil Minotaur monster dwelling in a picturesque Greek town. The film also stars Peter Cushing as the very picture of evil; unbelievably Cushing appeared the very same year in "Star Wars", also as (surprise!) the personification of evil. The movie starts with a former pupil of Roache's coming to visit and do some archeological exploration with some friends. Roache is welcoming (yet creepy) and cautions the explorers about the area, helpfully translating an inscription over a passage they go through as "Those who enter the forbidden chambers of the Minotaur must die". Pleasance is the same character he is in every movie, even though here he's the good guy. As the evil plot unfolds, Pleasence brings a detective friend of his from New York to help clear up the situation, although I can't fathom why: he is generally clueless and spends most of the film whining how religious Pleasence is. (He's a priest, remember?).

For a supernatural plot complete with guys in black hoods, sacrifices, chases, private investigators, ancient rituals, how could this be so...boring? The pace is absolutely slug-like, and with Pleasence as a good priest and Cushing as the priest of the Minotaur, there's never any doubt that the film is heading for a cataclysmic battle which will be won with the old crucifix ploy. The film has some atmospheric moments, but is more ponderous than scary.

"Terrified" is an early psychological thriller that features plain awful acting and absolutely terrible audio. It's frequently hard to understand what's being said, but the plot is fairly straightforward: a college student is writing a term paper on terror, and decides to go undercover and finds himself the target of a lunatic killer in an old abandoned town at night. The premise is wholly implausible: two teens want to go visit an old wino ("Crazy Bill") in a ghost town at midnight to "ask him a question". They go to the town and discover an extremely creepy cemetery. While the premise and acting may be sub par, the lighting and the cemetery and ghost town sets are excellent, really making this movie a lot more enjoyable.

You would expect that if two teens saw a man in a black mask and a murder in a cemetery in an abandoned town at midnight, they would go an get the police; instead these teens foreshadow the entire Scooby-Doo franchise by a decade and decide to go exploring the spooky graveyard, complete with tarantulas and masked villains. The film remains completely unbelievable until the very end, but despite dragging pacing in places, does manage to exude an atmosphere of creepiness and work in a chill or two. I won't reveal what happens to those meddling kids, but will say that while not without its moments, "Terrified" will not leave you terrified.

This set has eight very different films, some of which I liked more than others. My favorite of the bunch has to be "The Creeping Terror", which is side-splittingly funny, but all of them have their own peculiar charms. As a very nice bonus, there is an excellent color pamphlet inside the case which provides details on each of the eight films, a touch I really appreciated. For B-movie lovers, this will definitely cure whatever ails you!

This set is worth the price for The Hearse
& Land of the Mantou with Cushing & Pleasance.
The Devils Hand is a great twilight zone type
movie with Alda. Very well made & acted & pretty
good script of vodoo devil dolls. not bad. Bloodlust
is also pretty good remake of Most Dangerous Game &
with Brady Bunch dad! pretty good. The others are
pretty awful not worth watching but for the $9 I paid
I think 4 movies were worth admission.

I bought this collection to get 'The Creeping Terror', a film I've never seen but reputed to be one of the worst ever made. Well, yes & no. The basic plot idea is good, unique for the time, but not explained till the very end. The director tries hard, lots of monster point of view shots somewhat ruined by the victim's tendency to just stand there and gape in horror (when they could easily run away). The Creeping Terror is rather charming, though if you don't like slugs you might actually be a bit creeped out. The front is upright, containing some guy with his feet (disguised as psuedopods) kicking out from under the 'skirt' as he clomps along, the bulk of the monster's body billowing out behind him in a bumpy undulating train held up by perhaps two or three crouching people. Lots and lots of shots of it in broad daylight too. Why watch this film? It's delightful. Nobody is a trained actor. It's fun watching local townspeople and/or investors in the film doing their best to follow directions. The dance sequence is hilarious, all those lanky teenagers twisting up a storm and looking energetic but idiotic in the extreme. And the infantry tactics employed by the soldiers attacking the monster is beyond idiotic, totally inept. And the lovers lane sequence where the monster sucks people out of cars while a not too bright guy watches puffing on his pipe contentedly. Ed Wood Jr. would be envious. I consider this film highly entertaining. I enjoyed every moment of it. On a technical note the image is watchable, a bit washed out at times, but acceptable.

so a bunch of these movies can be found in other collections... "cult terror cinema" has many of the same movies, and it's also released by mill creek. the video quality is MUCH higher in this collection, though.

the big difference is that this collection puts one movie on each side of the disc, meanwhile the other one puts 2 on each side. both are single layer on each side so this means they're cramming twice as much movie into the same amount of space.

the movies are pretty decent if you're into this sort of thing, i'll let you read the other reviewers.

While volume 1 dealt w/ more exploitative films from Crown International's vaults, volume 2 of DRIVE-IN CULT CLASSICS covers some of CI's pure, low-budget schlockers! THE MADMEN OF MANDORAS concerns nazis in South America who are keeping Hitler's head alive! THEY SAVED HITLER'S BRAIN is the very same film w/ 20 minutes of new, senseless footage tacked on! TERRIFIED has a student attempting to write a thesis on fear, only to find himself stalked by a masked, homicidal maniac! BLOODLUST is a goofy remake of the classic MOST DANGEROUS GAME w/ Robert "Mike Brady" Reed as the hero! THE CREEPING TERROR is the reason I bought this collection! Few movies reach this level of mind-mulching super-trash! Personally, I could watch it every day for the rest of my life! LAND OF THE MINOTAUR stars both Peter Cushing and Donald Pleasence! Cushing is a cult leader and Pleasence plays a priest! THE HEARSE- Trish van Devere is haunted by the title vehicle, while dating a strange zillionaire! THE DEVIL'S HAND- A satanic cult attracts new members through black magic and voodoo dolls! This collection has a little bit of everything for the true cheeeze enthusiast...

To anyone who hung out at the drive-ins in the early 1960s or watched late night TV later in the decade, most of the titles in this 8 movie 4 disc collection will bring back fond memories. Crown International specialized in cheap fare for the drive-in crowd. Compared to them, American International was MGM but Crown International's films were edgier. Some of it was unquestionably the low budgets they were shot under but many of the scripts were tighter and pushed the envelope further than most of their contemporaries. No production code worries for CIP. They also employed such old timers as Lew Landers (RETURN OF THE VAMPIRE) who knew how to stretch a buck.

Two of the films, TERRIFIED and especially BLOODLUST (a remake of THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME) are surprisingly graphic for the time and can still raise eyebrows today. Two other movies MADMEN OF MANDORAS and THEY SAVED HITLER'S BRAIN are the same film. BRAIN is the TV version with extra footage added. THE DEVIL'S HAND (a voodoo story) and THE CREEPING TERROR (a monster film) are classic Grade Z schlock along with LAND OF THE MINOTAUR (despite Peter Cushing and Donald Pleasance). THE HEARSE (w/Trish Van Devere) is the one true gem of the set.

Hats off to BCI Entertainment for making this series available. This is only one set out of four DRIVE-IN CULT CLASSICS DVDs and the only one devoted to horror films (the others are classic 70s sexploitation flicks like THE BABYSITTER and THE TEACHER). The quality of the prints is outstanding considering how rare some of these titles are and with a selling price around $10, you can't go wrong if you enjoy this type of movie. Long live Crown International! Independent movies made with cleverness and creativity to overcome the meager budgets they had to deal with.

If you're after stuff thats so bad it's good this won't dissapoint. It's standard T&A 70's drive in stuff thats funniy sober but funnier with some friends and a couple of cold ones. All eight films are transfered very well.This collection is of the better than average B's and at the price of about a buck a movie how can you go wrong ? ENJOY

I love drive-in movies. The worse they are, the better I like them, and these are all pretty bad . . . I mean good, or anyway, I love watching these and grooving on the lowbrow campy garbage that I somehow managed to find the time and energy to endure in the 1970's. This is nothing like a definitive collection of 70's crap, but it is a grand start on one. You could do a LOT worse (by which I mean you could do a lot better) than getting this collection. This is set is five stars worth of BAD. So it's good. Got it? Get it.

I love old horror movies and I love cheap campy movies but this collection is just bad.
The Devil's hand has some nice cinematography and is the best in the set. Seems like there is an awful lot of saving Hitler's brain in these movies.

Back in the 70's, when I was in college, we would all pile into a car and drive to see these movies. It was enjoyable remembering those days, through these movies.