The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967)

A nutty professor and his dim assistant (Roman Polanski) travel to a small village looking for a vampire. When a pretty village woman (Sharon Tate) is captured, our heroes go on a rescue mission.

Originally titled Dance of the Vampires, it was renamed and reedited when it came to America. Actors were dubbed and an animated segment was added to help explain the parts that were edited out. I didn’t see an animated segment so I presume I saw the European edit under the US title.

Ronald Lacey, famous as the disturbing Nazi (the one with the fancy coat hanger) from Raiders of the Lost Ark, plays a village idiot. Polanski first met Tate during casting. Two months after the film's release, they would be married. Eighteen months more and she would be dead.

The Fearless Vampire Killers has a strange, satirical tone. Actors wear expressive makeup and move at a frenetic pace. It gives the film a distinct style, much like a cartoon. It's not going to work for everyone, and it didn't quite work for me, but it was always interesting, visually if nothing else. AMRU 3.

Sugar Hill (1974)

When ruthless businessmen knock off a night club owner, his girl (Marki Bey) turns to voodoo for revenge.

Charles Robinson plays Fabulous, one of the top honkey’s top henchmen. He is better known (to me anyhow) as Mac from Night Court. He passed in 2021, 27 days before Markie Post. Only Dan Fielding and Roz are left.

Bey appeared in a handful of low budget films before doing a handful of TV appearances. She called it quits in her early thirties. She is pretty enough, but she lacks that Pam Grier charisma. Also, her character lacks agency. She is present for many of the kills but serves merely as bait. She doesn't even summon the zombies. She turns to Mama Maitresse for that.

Sugar Hill is a by-the-numbers blaxploitation revenge film with the added benefit of zombie mayhem. This film could have been just a series of revenge killings of the ruthless thugs, and it is. Unlike Kuroneko, the only questions are who will the zombies kill next, and how. But like the previous film, the undead are the good guys. AMRU 2.5.

Kuroneko (1968)

A group of Samurai happen upon two women in a small house, steal their food, rape, and murder them. The women soon return as vengeful ghosts, luring passing Samurai to their death.

The Japanese title is “Yabu no naka no kuroneko” which translates to “In the Grove of the Black Cat”. It taps into a Ryûnosuke Akutagawa story as well as the folklore of cats taking human form to avenge the wronged.

This film could have been just a series of revenge killings of the institutionally corrupt Samurai, but it’s more complicated than that. I won’t go into detail, but things become complicated.

There's not much else I can say lest I spoil. Kuroneko is a very satisfying watch. It’s beautifully photographed and the ethereal story draws the viewer in. It’s been on my radar for quite some time but schedules or circumstances always seem to conspire. I’m very glad to have finally seen it. AMRU 4.

Black Friday (1940)

When the kindly professor Kingsley is severely injured, the good doctor Sovac (Boris Karloff) secretly transplants the brain of a gangster to save his life. Also, he wanted to prove he could transplant a human brain. But definitely not because the gangster knew the location of a half million in stolen loot.

More Sci-Fi Noir than horror, it is categorized as such because Karloff and Lugosi appear. Well, Karloff appears quite a bit but Lugosi has a rather small role as a gangster. The real star is Stanley Ridges in the dual roles as Kingsley and the dastardly gangster Red Cannon. Ridges Jekyll and Hydes between the two roles with surprisingly little makeup change. Kingsley has a little gray hair, glasses, and a bit of a milquetoast, while Cannon looks younger and very much a take-charge character. One of the best dual role transformations I've seen.

The story is told in flashback as a reporter reads Doc Sovac’s journal while he walks to the electric chair. The working title of the film was Friday the 13th, because some important thing happens on that day. The accident, the transplant, the execution, I forget what.

Despite some good performances, Black Friday isn’t much of a film. The story is a bit sloppy with the details and is rather forgettable. AMRU 2.5. This is the fourth of eight Karloff/Lugosi collaborations. Have I found another list to complete?

Friday the 13th (1980)

Camp counselors hired to reopen a troubled summer camp are killed off one by one by an unseen assailant. Sh sh sh sh sh sh sh, ha ha ha ha ha ha.

I was too young to see the Halloween / Friday the 13th / Evil Dead generation of slashers when they were released, and really had no interest. It was the Guy in a Rubber Suit subgenre that interested me. Truth be told, I didn’t like being frightened. Maybe it was because I was somehow allowed to see Alien (1979). Not gonna lie, that film messed me up for a long time.

Friday the 13th is refreshingly free of subtext or narrative. It has been accused of being misogynistic but I don’t see it. If there is a deeper meaning, it’s that if you are hit in the face with an axe, you’re gonna die. Spoiler alert.

The biggest surprise is that there is no Jason in a Hockey Mask. That’s apparently a Part 2 invention. Also, Kevin Bacon is one of the counselors. Another was played by Harry Crosby, Bing’s kid. He has a total of five acting credits.

Friday the 13th is inextricably linked to Halloween, and widely recognized to be the lesser of the two films. That may be so, but I found myself enjoying it. Citizen Kane it is not, much of the acting is rather poor, but it gets a passing grade. AMRU 3.

What Else I Watched, 2025Q3

Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid (1982)
I was a huge fan of Steve Martin from his stand-up days. I was in the theater to watch The Jerk first run. I also saw Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid, but I didn’t get it. I hadn’t seen the old movies and just didn’t find it funny. Forty three years later, I enjoyed how the old films (a couple of which I had only recently watched) were incorporated into a new narrative. I appreciated it much more this time, but I still didn’t find it very funny. AMRU 3.

Hackers (1995)
Hackers is a very influential film in the computer hacking world. It brings in real hacker culture material (the Hacker Manifesto) and includes an excellent demonstration of social engineering. However, it’s silly and the story makes no sense. AMRU 3.

The Philadelphia Story (1940)
One of the greatest screwball comedies and always a pleasure to revisit. Some elements didn’t age particularly well, but they are easily ignored.

The Great Buster (2018)
Compassionate documentary of Buster Keaton’s life. I had seen it before, but it was worth the re-watch. AMRU 3.

Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
I watched this after seeing The Shootist and realized that I watched consecutive films where the main character goes to Nevada to die. Leaving Las Vegas is a tough watch but very much worthwhile. AMRU 4.

Saturday Night (2024)
A fictionalized account of the events leading up to the first episode of Saturday Night Live (then just called Saturday Night). A lot of SNL lore is included, even if the real events happened much later. I really enjoyed it. The performances were eerily spot-on. AMRU 4.

A Disturbance in the Force (2023)
A documentary about how the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special came about. New interviews with principal people and celebrities are interwoven with historical clips of many of the people responsible for this abomination. Quite entertaining. ARMU 4.

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
An almost technically perfect film. The story is made up of puzzle pieces that perfectly fit together. Film nerds will spot many homages to classic films. Great all around. AMRU 5.

Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl (1982)
Filmed in 1980 at the famed Hollywood Bowl amphitheater, in between the release of The Life of Brian and The Meaning of Life. The skits should be familiar to modern fans but many had not been seen outside of the UK at the time. I’ve long known about this film, but never could find a copy. AMRU 3.5.

The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946)

Young Martha Ivers (Janis Wilson) hates her domineering aunt (Judith Anderson) and in a fit of rage kills her. Years later, adult Martha (Barbara Stanwyck) is a successful business owner married to a childhood friend (Kirk Douglas), who knows her secret. When another childhood friend (Van Heflin) returns after many years, the couple conclude he is there to negotiate a price for his silence.

This is the first ever film role for Douglas as a scared little boy, quite against what would later become his type. This is the second appearance of Lizabeth Scott, playing the good but not too good girl. Judith Anderson is great as the Judith Anderson character. See Laura (1944) and Rebecca (1940). It’s a shame she didn’t have more screen time. Stanwyck reportedly exercised a lot of control on the set, perhaps realizing that her career was at an inflection point. She would turn the big four-oh a year later.

This film was adapted from a short story titled Love Lies Bleeding, which is a pretty awesome title. There are at least four other unrelated films with that title. I couldn’t find box office numbers but Strange Love apparently was a success despite the Strange Title.

The Strange Love of Martha Ivers is an interesting story that perhaps takes a little too long to resolve itself. Back in the day Noir films were simply called melodramas, and this film gets more than a little melodramatic. AMRU 3.5