Sunday, July 29, 2012

Movie Ad of the Week: "Sir Run Run Shaw Kung-Fu Festival" (1983)


In late 1983, World Northal Corp. had so many Shaw Brothers movies on their release schedule that the Movieland theater in Times Square was able to run a five-week "Sir Run Run Shaw Kung-Fu Festival"
(November 9 - December 13) to help clear the slate so the films could be included in the company's latest TV syndication package. Here's what was shown...

DYNASTY OF BLOOD
a.k.a. CI MA / BLOOD BROTHERS (1973)

THE INVINCIBLE ONE
a.k.a. HONG QUAN XIAO ZI / DISCIPLES OF SHAOLIN (1975)

KUNG FU WARLORDS PART II
a.k.a. SHE DIAO YING XIONG CHUAN XU JI / BRAVE ARCHER 2 (1978)

THE DEADLY MANTIS
a.k.a. TANG LANG / SHAOLIN MANTIS (1978)

SUPER NINJAS
a.k.a. REN ZNE WU DI / FIVE ELEMENT NINJA (1982)

By the second week, THE KUNG FU INSTRUCTOR/JIAO TOU (1979) had replaced KUNG FU WARLORDS PART II, which kept its November 23 release date but premiered instead at the Empire Theater on 42nd Street, where it was paired with the first KUNG FU WARLORDS.

Friday, July 27, 2012

Crowned and Renowned: A Look Back at Crown International Pictures, Parts 1 & 2


Hey gang! Fly on over to Turner Classic Movies' great Movie Morlocks blog and check out "Crowned and Renowned: A Look Back at Crown International Pictures," an extensive two-part retrospective on the long-running independent movie company, written by David Konow and our very own Chris Poggiali.



Producer Marilyn J. Tenser and husband Mark Tenser, president of Crown International Pictures, on the set of SUPERCHICK (1973).


STANLEY and SUPERCHICK screenwriter Gary Crutcher with Mark Tenser.


Director William Grefe (with Stanley the snake) and actor Chris Robinson on the set of STANLEY (1972).

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Movie Ad of the Week: BREAKFAST AT THE MANCHESTER MORGUE (1975)

Almost a year before its May 1976 rollout in New York, Los Angeles and St. Louis as DON'T OPEN THE WINDOW...

...with an advertising campaign that ripped off Avco Embassy's marketing for SOMETHING TO HIDE (1976), including unlicensed images of co-stars Shelley Winters and Linda Hayden...

...American International Pictures and Hallmark Releasing slipped Jorge Grau's NON SI DEVE PROFANARE IL SONNO DEI MORTI / LET SLEEPING CORPSES LIE (1974) into one 42nd Street theater as BREAKFAST AT THE MANCHESTER MORGUE, with a completely different (and more original) ad campaign.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Movie Ad of the Week: THE MODELS (1974)


Here's a post that started as a "Mystery Movie" but quickly morphed into equal parts "Updating the IMDb" and "Movie Ad of the Week." A couple of days ago, our friend Marc Morris asked us to find the true identity of THE MODELS, a Euro sleaze pic that was released in the U.S. by Group 1 Films beginning in 1974. Some sources claim that it's Claude Pierson's AFFAIR (1974), starring Lucretia Love and Paola Senatore, but that was released stateside (with an X rating) in 1976 by Intercontinental Releasing Corporation. After digging our old Alpha Blue Archives tape out of storage, we quickly ascertained that THE MODELS is actually DONNEZ-NOUS NOTRE AMOUR QUOTIDIEN / IN LOVE WITH SEX (1973), also directed by Pierson and starring Love and Senatore.

For a better look at that Robert McGinnis artwork, click below.

Thursday, July 12, 2012

CELLULOID BLOODBATH: MORE PREVUES FROM HELL Ghouls Art-y!


Fear Yeee-YEW!, Fear Eeeee-GRUE!

CELLULOID BLOODBATH:
MORE PREVIEWS FROM HELL
Ghouls Art-y!

by Terry Blass

It is again with the gravefest of pleasure that Temple of Schlock creature features a world hexclusive regarding a CELLULOID BLOODBATH: MORE PREVUES FROM HELL world preem-eerie. Yes, fiends and slay-gores, PREVUES FROM HELL is back ... to hack! ... with a second Virgil Films volume deadheaded this Oc-tomb-brr 9th tomb DVD racks every scare. And we've got the sneak-eek! first look peek at the front cover box art. And trust us, it's rot for the scream-ish!

So, boyls and coils, put on those a-gore-mentioned reek guards like now and get ready to eee-yowl:

Yes, fear fans every scare, dead woodn't you know it? Happy G., no dumb he, made such a big Splatt in the first PREVUES FROM HELL DVD he's back for gore! And why knotty pine? Hap proved so poplar in PFH 1 the producers wooden ever let him leaf, let alone not have him at CELLULOID BLOODBATH's elm. I mean, the great John Zacharle himself can be found Roland around in CB onscream, but it's Hap who's the ghost host who'd make the most posts.


Man o' woman, look at that guest list, chill ya? Linnea Quigley, Michelle Bauer, Caroline Munro, Veronica Carlson, Debra Lamb, Darian Caine, Kyra Schon. Plus April Burrill (slash!) Chainsaw Sally, since you axed. And that's just the (s)laydies!

Guys wise, we have Kevin Clement with first Chilling, Johnny Legend, Professor Ouch, true survivor George Stover, and George Kosana from the scary first and beast NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, sheriff nuff! Plus Conrad Brooks, without whom things just Ed Woodn't feel altogether fright.

And that haunt the half of pits. Better, deader & redder yet, the producers of CB promise not 47 of the beast horror movie trailers/slash/coming eccch!-tractions ever, as hoodone had PREVUES 1, but 60! Yes indead, 5 dozen of 'em, witches for Shirley, Jackson, a Karloffty height to DIE, MONSTER, DIE for. In fact, that's more movie trailers of terror in CELLULOID BLOODBATH than even Dracula could Count!

At least, that is, without driving even him batty!

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Movie Ad of the Week: THE YUM-YUM GIRLS (1978)


Yikes! We just realized we're a week-and-a-half behind and owe you two of these posts! Tell ya what: we'll toss this one up for now, then tomorrow we'll backdate it to a week ago Sunday and put up another ad for this past Sunday (y'know, our usual trick when we go to sleep for 10 days at a time). This ad also counts as an impromptu "Updating the IMDb" post, since THE YUM-YUM GIRLS was released by Cannon in 1978 but the IMDb has its release date as 1981 ('cause that's when it opened in Finland, of course!). We don't have a source handy to back up the following information, but we've heard that the bulk of this movie was shot in 1976, with Cannon adding new material prior to its '78 rollout, similar to the job they did on INCOMING FRESHMEN around the same time ("additional material" credits and Joseph Zito listed as an uncredited editor on the IMDb are submitted as evidence).

Tuesday, July 03, 2012

Updating the IMDb...Again

In no particular order...

The deservedly obscure Anthony M. Lanza/Arch Hall Sr. talk show spoof THE IRV CARLSON SHOW resurfaced a decade ago courtesy of Something Weird Video, under the (sloppily spliced in) title THE WEIRD ONES. However, this so-called comedy was submitted to the MPAA in 1971 as TELL IT LIKE IT IS and then received its widest theatrical exposure under the title THE NOW PEOPLE. Neither of these titles are listed on the IMDb (Meanwhile, neither THE IRV CARLSON SHOW nor THE WEIRD ONES are on file with the MPAA).

Sean MacGregor directed four feature films that we know of: two that he was fired from (CRY BLOOD APACHE and DEVIL TIMES FIVE) and two that he may have finished himself (NOVEMBER CHILDREN and CAMPER JOHN). If there's anything to glean from his limited oeuvre, it's the strong suspicion that (1) he never learned how to work with sync sound, and (2) he had a serious case of Tom Laughlin envy. His second try, NOVEMBER CHILDREN, is better known today as NIGHTMARE COUNTY -- if it's known at all -- with a release date of 1977 according to the IMDb. This is a mistake on top of a mistake.

NOVEMBER CHILDREN was in theatrical release by August of 1972, and was retitled NIGHTMARE COUNTY and re-released by Intercontinental Releasing Corporation beginning in May 1976 (NIGHTMARE OF DEATH is another alternate title filed with the MPAA, who claim the movie was rated R in 1972, re-rated to a PG later that year, then re-rated R again in '73). IRC kept it in theatrical release into the 1980s in major markets like New York (where it played 42nd Street for one day) and Chicago (which explains its "Dog of the Week" appearance on Sneak Previews around this time), even though it was already on TV as early as March 1978.

Going by its original ad campaign, THE JESUS TRIP (1971) looks like a biker version of TWO MULES FOR SISTER SARA...

...but this Eve Meyer presentation was re-released in 1972 as THE RAVAGED, with no sign of Sister Anna anywhere in its campaign. This alternate title is absent from the IMDb.

Robert J. Siegel's PARADES (1972), a military prison drama with music contributions from Barry Manilow and Alan Menken, is better known under its reissue title, THE LINE, but Cinerama Releasing also put it out as BREAK LOOSE, an alternate title that isn't in the IMDb.

Readers of our second blog, The Paperback Film Projector, know how much we love novelizations. In 1969/1970, adults-only publisher Greenleaf Classics released a series of rare photo illustrated novelizations of softcore movies, several of which were issued under alternate titles. One of these is The Incredible Peeping Tom by Tod Nylan, which is actually a novelization of the black-and-white invisible man nudie HENRY'S NIGHT IN (1969)...

...while Weekend Warrior by Emil Ludwig is a novelization of the Harry Novak release WEEKEND LOVERS (1969), directed by Dwayne Avery.

Speaking of Harry Novak and Dwayne Avery, another of their skinful collaborations, THE EXOTIC DREAMS OF CASANOVA, is on the IMDb as a 1974 release, but we've confirmed playdates for it going back to June 1971.

Here's one that our friend John Charles brought to our attention. Frederick Friedel's neat horror-crime hybrid AXE is listed as a July 1977 release on the IMDb, but it opened in Gastonia, North Carolina on August 23, 1974 as LISA, LISA.

The IMDb has LITTLE GIRL, BIG TEASE as a February 1977 release, but we've found theatrical bookings for it as early as July 1976. It was rated R by the MPAA in 1975, under the title SNATCHED, so it may have been in circulation even earlier, and under that title as well.

Troma released James Riffel's shoestring Jersey-shot horror flick DEAD DUDES IN THE HOUSE (a.k.a. THE HOUSE ON TOMBSTONE HILL) beginning in 1991...

...but Riffel himself released it as THE DEAD COME HOME in October 1989. It played midnight shows at different theaters in New Jersey after a one-week run at the legendary Fabian Theater in Paterson, NJ.

The IMDb claims a November 1979 release date for the inept, micro-budgeted Wildman Steve comedy THE SIX THOUSAND DOLLAR NIGGER, but the ad above is from its Atlanta opening on December 22, 1978. Also, SUPER SOUL BROTHER is credited as a "video title" when it's an alternate theatrical title as well.

THE CARHOPS is credited with a 1975 release date on the IMDb, which is incorrect. NMD Film Distributing put out the version known as THE CARHOPS in 1977. As for the 1975 release date...

...that applies to KITTY CAN'T HELP IT, the original cut of the movie without the carhop footage that was added for the '77 release. Given an R rating by the MPAA in 1974, KITTY CAN'T HELP IT was released by Mammoth Films in 1975 (The ad above is from a May '75 run in De Moines, IA).

All-Scope International released THE HOAX in Phoenix, Arizona on April 19, 1972...

...but American Films Ltd. re-released it as SWISS BANK ACCOUNT in 1974, which isn't noted on the IMDb.

When the South African actioner DEATH OF A SNOWMAN (1976) came out on DVD from Synapse Films in November 2010, there was quite a bit of confusion over its U.S. release history, which still hasn't been cleared up on the IMDb. In a nutshell, Cinematic Releasing Corporation released it in 1978 as BLACK TRASH...

...then re-released it as SOUL PATROL in 1981 with a completely different ad campaign (The film received video releases under both titles, too).

There's currently no U.S. theatrical release info for León Klimovsky's LA REBELION DE LAS MUERTAS on the IMDb, despite the fact that we did a One-Sheet of the Week post about it nearly two and a half years ago. The film was released stateside on the bottom half of a double bill with LA SAGA DE LOS DRACULA/THE SAGA OF DRACULA beginning in December 1973, from International Cine Film Corporation. The 1976 volume of John Willis' Screen World lists both films as February '75 releases through International Amusements Corporation, which is what the IMDb has as release info for THE SAGA OF DRACULA (The earlier date and distributor should be added to this entry).

But that's not the end of the story, because...

...LA REBELION DE LAS MUERTAS was re-released in 1981 as WALK OF THE DEAD by Independent Artists Corporation, another bit of info missing from the U-know-what.

By the way, our earliest sighting of LA REBELION DE LAS MUERTAS in the U.S. is a one-week run at the Cine 1 & 2, Times Square's premier Spanish-language theater, where it was co-billed with ESCALOFRIO DIABOLICO (1971) during the week of October 17-23, 1973.

Sunday, July 01, 2012

Movie Ad of the Week: OUTSIDE IN (1972)


World Premiere
- September 15, 1972 - Boston, MA

All of the reviews and publicity materials we've ever seen for the George Edwards production OUTSIDE IN credit Allen Baron (BLAST OF SILENCE, TERROR IN THE CITY) as its sole director, yet character actor G.D. Spradlin has somehow become the film's credited co-director on the IMDb. As a result, this info has turned up all over the Internet, including Spradlin's obituaries (He passed away a year ago at age 90), but I've found no evidence that it's true -- and even if it is, he's not the credited director. Someone needs to put "uncredited" in parentheses next to his name.

OUTSIDE IN was originally released by Harold Robbins International, the short-lived company founded by the author of such best-selling novels as The Carpetbaggers, The Adventurers, Where Love Has Gone and The Lonely Lady.


Above is the first of two different Boxoffice reviews for the film.

OUTSIDE IN was re-released by Producers Distributing Corporation in 1973 as DRAFT DODGER. This alternate title is not on file with the MPAA, nor is it listed in the IMDb.

A second re-release came in 1975, when Independent Film Distributors put out the movie as RED, WHITE AND BUSTED.

Above and below we see the second Boxoffice review, from March '76, under the RED, WHITE AND BUSTED title.