REEL WILD CINEMA: EPISODES ELEVEN TO THIRTEEN

Balladeer’s Blog continues its look at the Forgotten Television item Reel Wild Cinema (1996-1997).

This time around it’s Episodes 11-13.

THE RUNDOWN FOR EPISODE ELEVEN (June 30th, 1996)

Title: Evil Rampaging Monsters

Truncated Films Shown:

THE RETURN OF THE GIANT MAJIN (1966) – We fans of oddball cinema have long loved Majin, the often-ignored distant cousin of kaiju favorites like Godzilla and Gamera. Majin is a gigantic samurai statue that comes to life periodically in Japan of a few centuries back.

The setting means that instead of miniatures of tanks and cities filled with skyscrapers for the figure to rampage through, viewers get miniatures of cannons, fishing boats and towns filled with period architecture. But let’s not kid ourselves; the MAIN “So Bad It’s Good” aspect of the Majin movies is the way he literally shoots flames from his crotch for some bizarre reason. I’m not joking.

EEGAH (1962) – My fellow fans of The Incredibly Strange Film Show (1988-1989) smiled at the inclusion of one of Ray Dennis Steckler’s schlock gems. Steckler directed and made a cameo appearance, plus Arch Hall Jr. and Sr. lengthened their footnotes in Psychotronic film lore with their roles here.

Richard Kiel himself played the title character – the sole survivor of a family of cavemen who had been living on land owned by THE Harpo Marx. Eegah lusts after Arch Hall Jr.’s girlfriend and after holding her captive briefly he later searches for her at a pool party where he runs amok. Like Alka Seltzer, Eegah dissolves in water as it turns out.

THE BRAINIAC (1962) – A staple of every Bad Movie Show from the late 1960s onward, this was one of the black & white Mexican horror films imported by K. Gordon Murray, who provided half-assed dubbing. The title character is a 1600s Mexican sorcerer put to death for his evil deeds.

While dying, he transfers his soul into a passing comet and, 300 years later when it passes by Earth again, the sorcerer makes it land on our planet. His soul emerges, able to shift from his human form to that of a clawed, long-haired monster. As a monster, he possesses a hard, hollow tongue that can pierce the skulls of his victims, letting him suck out their brains.  

*** TRAILERS – A look at campy trailers for Stripper and the Beast (1965), The Flesh Eaters (1964), and Superargo & the Faceless Giants (1968). 

THE RUNDOWN FOR EPISODE TWELVE (April 7th, 1997)

Title: Go Ape!

Truncated Films Shown:

THE BEAST THAT KILLED WOMEN (1965) – Directed by master of badfilm Barry Mahon and written by his wife Clelle, this was another of the Nudie Cuties of the time period that blended monster elements with the never-nudity. (For newbies, Nudie Cutie flicks showed toplessness but are otherwise as mild as Benny Hill sketches.)

An apelike cryptid stalks the grounds of a nudist camp seeking victims to slake its bloodlust. Mahon fans will be happy to know that he was always awful, even this early in his career. This thing is badly directed, has inconsistent sound and non-existent acting talent.

THE WHITE GORILLA (1945) – This anti-classic in the wild primate subgenre of movies featured some 1945 footage plus footage stolen from 1927’s silent Tarzan serial Perils of the Jungle. Ray “Crash” Corrigan starred, little dreaming that he would one day be the guy wearing ape and monster costumes in flicks like this.

A gorilla born with freakish white fur is ostracized by the other gorillas, who won’t even let him play in any reindeer gorilla games. His period of exile strengthens him as he clashes with natives and white poachers, ultimately feeling ready to challenge the gorilla who cast him out in a battle for supremacy.

FORBIDDEN ADVENTURE (1935) – This bizarre roadshow movie was filmed in the jungles of Cambodia. Well, at least that’s where most of the footage comes from and it’s actually got some nice looks at the temples and local wildlife. To provide what passes for a storyline, the filmmakers threw in a British-led jungle expedition to a lost city, narrated by a hilarious tea-and-crumpets stereotype.

What makes this adventure “forbidden” you ask? The fact that the Cambodian jungle women (really ladies from Los Angeles) protect a local ape from the Brits because they worship the ape in honor of a long-ago romance (!) between a queen and a primate. I always laugh at the bland, stiff upper lip way that the narrator says “the actions of our (expedition’s) women in seeking to protect this monster dumbfounded us.” Yes, unpleasant business. Nothing for it.   

*** TRAILERS – A look at campy trailers for and excerpts from The Ape Woman (1964), Monsters Crash the Pajama Party (1965), Mole Men Against the Son of Hercules (1961), Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla (1952), Primitive Love (1964) and Prehistoric Women (1950).

THE RUNDOWN FOR EPISODE THIRTEEN (April 14th, 1997)

Title: Psycho a Go-Go

Truncated Films Shown:

HOT BLOODED WOMAN (1965) – From the maker of The Girl and the Geek comes this schlocker starring Jack Ruby’s real-life secretary Beverly Oliver using a pseudonym. Beverly would go on to cash in on her Jack Ruby connection in JFK and Ruby documentaries and worked as an advisor on Oliver Stone’s JFK.

The story involves Beverly’s character Myrtle getting frustrated at her husband failing his duties in the marital bed and infuriated to find he’s cheating on her with other women, including her sister. She goes crazy and stabs him to death, then breaks out of the insane asylum to wreak further havoc against her hubby’s bedmates. Bill Thurman from Larry Buchanan flicks shows up, too!

THE SEX KILLER (1965) – Our friend Barry Mahon strikes again with this b&w oddity. The main character Tony is a handsome guy but a psycho who becomes obsessed with the female mannequins made by the factory where he works.

The loon even takes the head of a mannequin from work on a date and talks to it, understandably creeping out the other patrons at the site of the date. Unfulfilled, Tony soon turns to strangling women of Times Square until meeting his own end. Possible inspiration for the original Maniac AND Mannequin?

BLOOD FEAST (1963) – H.G. Lewis’ game changer of a horror film that dared to throw in lots of blood, albeit hilariously FAKE looking blood. A Miami caterer is really a worshiper of the goddess Ishtar and he is cutting off select body parts from his victims to construct a full-body model of said goddess.

We get Ed Wood style police work, horrible acting and a feeling of low-budget desperation in every frame. Lewis laughed all the way to the bank and followed this up with similar flicks. For my full-length review of Blood Feast plus other H.G. Lewis movies click HERE.   

*** TRAILERS – A look at campy trailers for and excerpts from Mondo Bizarro (1966), Tomorrow’s Children (1934), and Confessions of a Psycho Cat (1968). 

I’LL EXAMINE THREE MORE EPISODES NEXT TIME.