Witchery (1988)

Clip: Linda Blair vs David Hasselhoff



Directed by Fabrizio Laurenti.

Starring Linda Blair and David Hasselhoff.

IMDB

Linda Blair and the Hoff in an 80's Italian horror movie? That is the very definition of must-see.

In fact, director Laurenti even managed to convince Blair to do an Exorcist style possession scene which puts this film over the top. Witchery also recycles a few old Suspiria themes with the witch angle but also with the shimmering medallion that seems to hypnotize people. This trailer makes the film seem more brutal and violent than it really feels when you watch the full-length but it will definitely please gore hounds as well.

I recommend this film as the finale in an all-Linda Blair 80's weekend. Start with Hell Night, then Savage Streets and finally, the all-mighty Witchery.

Penitentiary (1979)

Directed by Jamaa Fanaka.

Starring Leon Isaac Kennedy.

IMDB

This film seems to split people down the middle: they either love it or detest it. I'm in the former and I think it belongs on any list of tragically underrated films. There is so much grit coming at you that you'll be chiseling it off your shoulders for weeks.

This is some real low-budget fare but it's worth the ticket if you like prison films.

Black Shampoo (1976)

Directed by Greydon Clark.

Starring Gary Allen, Kelly Beau and Jack Meoff!!!

IMDB

This was Greydon Clark's first movie and it comes a bit late in the blaxploitation cycle and is largely forgotten nowadays. Clark would go on to direct the awesome 80's videogame movie called Joysticks in 1983.

Black Shampoo is definitely in the "Shaft" and "Slaughter" school of blaxploitation movies but it sort of veers into Jack Hill-esque ridiculousness. Highly recommended. It's available from VCI Video on DVD.

The Cheerleaders (1973)

Directed by Paul Glickler.

Starring Stephanie Fondue, Denise Dillaway and Jovita Bush.

IMDB

Mid-70's sex comedy that spawned two sequels, including the Jack Hill (Coffy) directed Swinging Cheerleaders in 74.

What is hilarious about this trailer is that the last minute or so is just a flagrant succession of butt shots. This is the type of film Clark Griswold probably watched while going to college in the 70's.

And Now A Few Words From Our Sponsors....

Double Bill! The Velvet Vampire (1971) w/ Scream Of The Demon Lover (1970)

Velvet Vampire

Directed by Stephanie Rothman.

Starring Michael Blodgett and Sherry Miles.

IMDB


Scream of the Demon Lover

Directed by José Luis Merino.

Starring Erna Schürer.

IMDB

A great double-feature trailer from two obscure early-70's cheapie horror films.

Scream of the Demon Lover was a European film called Ivanna brought into American distribution by Roger Corman's New World Pictures and Velvet Vampire is a largely forgotten American film produced by Charles Swartz who was the head of production at Corman's company.

I'm not sure of the origins of this trailer but seeing that they were both Corman entities, these two films were probably screened back to back at some drive-ins at the time.

Humanoids from the Deep (1980)

Directed by Barbara Peters.

Starring Vic Morrow.

IMDB

Another bizzare entry from the extensive Roger Corman-produced catalogue that revolves around pollution created fish-men rising from the water to mate with human women!

Barbara Peters, who directed another Cult Trailers favourite "Bury Me An Angel", was fired from this movie by Corman after she refused to shoot additional footage of the monsters attacking some young women in an effort to get more nudity in the film.

Vic Morrow would go on to star in two movies by one of my personal favourite directors, Enzo G. Castellari, in "The Last Shark" and "1990: Bronx Warriors" over the next two years before being killed in an accident on the set of the "Twilight Zone" film during a segment being directed by John Landis.