I remember seeing the horror film Tower of Evil at the flicks. I went with my older Brother in the Seventies. It was part of a double bill and was the B-feature. Like many B-movies I liked it the most.
Tower of Evil starred Robin Askwith and Jack Watson among many others and revolved around an ancient and malevolent Egyptian or Arabic artifact buried on an island, where a group of unwitting visitors fall foul of the cursed place. I'm doing this from memory so it's as foggy as the film's beginning, which included a rowing boat mooring up and two sailors stumbling across a severed hand on the way to a lighthouse. One of the young buff twenty somethings in the film, always wearing a T-shirt, was called Gump or Bron or something similar. I loved Tower of Evil.
Another film I saw in the late Seventies was Rabid, an early shocker from Canada's body horror king David Cronenberg. I took my girlfriend Janet. Rabid was the main event.
The flick was typical Cronenberg and I enjoyed it a lot more than Janet did. She did cling on to me though, which was nice. The story was basically about a parasitic armpit tusk that siphons blood. It emerges on the film's protagonist, a young long-haired girl in leather, during a skin graft after a motorcycle accident. Her boyfriend is also treated but does not develop the underarm horn. Alas, virtually everyone in the hospital succumbs to the parasite passed on by the girl, turning them into crazed patients, surgeons and porters hell-bent on being nasty. Parasites are Cronenberg's best mates and yukky body fluids his chosen tipple, as we saw in Stereo, Shivers and Scanners. The setting was typical Cronenscape; a remote clinic called keloid on a lonely freeway during a frigid Canadian winter. The droning music added to the contagious gloom and leaving the cinema we felt jittery, cold and armpitty.
Which horror films did you see at the flicks in the Seventies?
Sadly, I was never old enough to watch horror films at the cinema during the 70s, no matter how hard I stared at the posters, but I did watch A LOT on TV, of course. I agree about Rabid - it's an excellent film. The recent re-make is good in its own terms but just doesn't have the same vibe as the original.
ReplyDeleteA fellow Rabid watcher! Yay! Not seen the re-make Paul, will have to track it down. I don't know why older horror isn't the staple of the Horror Channel but then again I am an old crusty. I suppose the modern films packed with teenagers they mostly show are cheap to buy or lease. Talking Pictures TV show some great old horror. Behemoth the Seamonster is coming soon!
DeleteI suppose The Omega Man is really a horror film, wrapped up in a SF/Action film candy coating. I remember seeing this at the Randwick Odeon (long closed down) not knowing what it was, or being particularly impressed with the marquee art!
ReplyDeleteAs it was, it was the last great Chuck Heston SF movie and I love it to this day!
I do have to admit Last Man on Earth is a better telling of the Richard Matheson story I Am Legend. - And the Will Smith attempt was not even a close miss!
Looey I've never seen Chuck's Omega Man to my utter shame. In fact I haven't seen Last Man on Earth either. the only one I've seen is the Will Smith flick! I hang my head ...
DeleteFunnily enough, we watched 'The Omega Man' Friday evening. It's an excellent film and one I did originally see at the cinema, despite what I said earlier. It was the support to 'Doc Savage' and I have to say I enjoyed it even more than the main feature. When I saw 'Doc Savage' a couple of years later, supporting 'Warlords Of Atlantis', the Man of Bronze movie then seemed like a masterpiece by comparison!
DeleteI shall have to watch it Paul . Just enjoyed three more old flicks this week on You Tube: The Mephisto Waltz, The Medusa Touch and Mansion of the Doomed aka Massacre Mansion. Great movies! I think they all had spanish sub titles but that doesn't bother me.
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