BLOOD SABBATH (1972) – Anthony Geary, best known as Luke Spencer on General Hospital when that soap opera was kicking off the absurd trend of daytime dramas being more like Republic Serials, has passed away. Balladeer’s Blog marks the sad event with this review of Geary’s most Psychotronic movie.
Hey, when you needed someone to save Port Charles from a weather machine you needed James Bond or Luke Spencer. Anthony Geary skyrocketed to fame as Luke of “Luke and Laura” fame on General Hospital.
Genie Francis played Luke’s romantic partner Laura (after they retconned his rape of her into a “seduction” instead).
For her part, Genie had to suffer through a real-life marriage to Commander Riker from Star Trek: The Next Generation and Anthony had to suffer through bombs like Blood Sabbath.
It’s tough to beat the Bad Movie pedigree of this flick. For starters, it was directed by Brianne Murphy, one-time wife of schlock film icon Jerry Warren, the man behind several of his own flops AND the U.S. distribution of several Mexican-made horror and wrestling movies.
Costarring with Geary was Dyanne Thorne, Ilsa herself from truly awful films like Ilsa, She Wolf of the S.S., Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks, Ilsa, the Tigress of Siberia and Ilsa, the Wicked Warden. Those flicks, while not porn, are only for hardcore devotees of bad exploitation movies. Continue reading
These are the legends about Charlemagne and his Paladins, not the actual history, so there will be dragons, monsters and magic. 
THE EMPEROR SURROUNDED – When we left Emperor Charlemagne, he and his army were surrounded on all sides by the forces of Islam which had invaded the land of the Franks from both Moorish Spain and from North Africa. NOTE: Not all Tales of Charlemagne involve clashes with Muslims, in fact most involve his Paladins fighting giants, dragons, sorcerers, etc. However, this one does happen to feature them in such a clash. 
My late mother was, unfortunately for me when I was a teenager, a country music fan so, strange as it may seem, I actually know who the singers in this flick are. This version of the Carol is set in fictional Flint City, Tennessee, a town dominated by the financial pull of banker Cyrus Flint, played by Hoyt Axton.
MINNIE’S BOYS (1970) – My review of the original production of this stage show about the hilarious comedy team the Marx Brothers. Click 
JOHN DEREK: HIS SWASHBUCKLER FILMS – The man who married Bo Derek, Ursula Andress, Linda Evans & Pati Behrs also starred in swashbuckler movies like Rogues of Sherwood Forest (1950), The Sword of Monte Cristo (1951), Prince of Pirates (1953) and The Adventures of Hajji Baba (1954). Click 
THE SILENT FILMS OF ALICE GUY-BLACHE – This pioneering woman was for a time the only female director in the industry. I reviewed her works from the 1890s to 1920, including comedies, dramas, westerns, black cast movies, love stories and horror movies like Esmeralda (1905) – the first known film adapting The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Click 
A REDNECK CHRISTMAS CAROL (1997) – Written by John Yow & T. Stacy Helton and illustrated by David Boyd this is a reasonably funny adaptation of A Christmas Carol. Think of the type of jokes that Jeff Foxworthy was telling back when this book came out and you’ll know what to expect. 
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME – The defending champs – the COLLEGE OF SAN MATEO BULLDOGS – battled the GOLDEN WEST COLLEGE RUSTLERS. A 7-0 opening Quarter edge for the Bulldogs became a 21-7 lead at the Half. 28-7 was the score to close the 3rd Quarter and a missed PAT ended a valiant Rustlers rally in the 4th as San Mateo held on to win 28-27.
FIRST SEMIFINAL – The KEISER UNIVERSITY SEAHAWKS took the field against the visiting COLLEGE OF IDAHO COYOTES. The Seahawks watched their 9-0 1st Quarter lead morph into a 21-9 College of Idaho advantage by Halftime. The 3rd Quarter ended with Keiser pulling to within 21-16 of the Coyotes and an explosive 4th ended in a 36-27 victory for the Seahawks. 
SPIDER-MAN Vol 1 #176 (Jan 1978) 
Peter becomes Spider-Man and gets to the apartment that Harry shares with Flash Thompson. He finds Flash unconscious on the floor and the Green Goblin ransacking Harry’s bedroom. Spider-Man attacks the villain, assuming it’s Harry in the costume, but in a few issues it will turn out to be Dr. Hamilton himself, who manipulated his patient Harry Osborn to find his late father Norman Osborn’s Green Goblin costume and weaponry. 
SCREAMBOOK (1984) – This low, low budget horror anthology film was written, produced and directed by THIRTEEN-YEAR-OLD Joseph Zaso. 
WINK MARTINDALE, RIP: HE DID MORE THAN JUST GAME SHOWS – I reviewed some of Mr. Martindale’s other productions, like his role on the sci-fi series Mars Patrol (1953-1955), the Rock and Roll movie Let’s Rock (1958), the 26-minute short about life in the future titled 1999 A.D., and the PureFlix series Hilton Head Island. Click 
FOR APRIL 1st, THE THIRD FOOL KILLER LETTER – From June 28th, 1861. 
FORGOTTEN TELEVISION – Bracken’s World (1969-1970) Leslie Nielsen as the head of a Hollywood studio with as many stars as The Love Boat. Click 
ARGENTINA’S SUPERHEROES – I examined the country’s male and female heroes like Caballero Rojo, Cybersix, Sonoman, El Cazador, Alien Girl, Arana Negra and many more. Click 
DECEMBER 11th, 2019 – On the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, cave art was discovered that has been recognized as the world’s oldest example of pictorial storytelling, dating to approximately 43,900 years ago. 
A DIVA’S CHRISTMAS CAROL (2000) – Balladeer’s Blog’s Sixteenth Annual Christmas Carol-a-Thon continues with a look at this Vanessa Williams venture. Due to the nature of this adaptation of the Dickens classic it is often categorized as one of the “African-American versions.” Among other such Carols I have reviewed are Christmas is Comin’ Uptown with Gregory Hines and John Grin’s Christmas starring Robert Guillaume. 
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