Blood of Ghastly Horror

Last updated

Blood of Ghastly Horror
GhastlyBlood.jpg
DVD cover
Directed by Al Adamson
Written byAl Adamson
Mark Eden
Chris Martino
Dick Poston
Samuel M. Sherman
Produced byAl Adamson
Charles McMullen
Zoe Phillips
Samuel M. Sherman
J.P. Spohn
Don Geuss
Starring John Carradine
Kent Taylor
Tommy Kirk
Regina Carrol
CinematographyLouis Horvath
Vilmos Zsigmond
Edited byO'Dale Ireland
Music byDon McGinnis
Jimmie Roosa
Distributed by Troma Entertainment
Release date
  • 1967 (1967)
Running time
87 minutes
LanguageEnglish

Blood of Ghastly Horror is a 1967 [1] science fiction horror film directed by Al Adamson and starring John Carradine, Tommy Kirk, Kent Taylor, and Regina Carrol. [2]

Contents

Plot

Dr. Howard Vanard (John Carradine) implants a strange electronic component into the brain of returning Vietnam War veteran Joe Corey (Roy Morton), who becomes a psychotic killer. Corey takes part in a jewel heist with a few cohorts, and while escaping from the scene, the stolen loot is hastily thrown from a rooftop into the back of a pickup truck belonging to a guy named David Clarke. After he violently murders a cocktail waitress in a motel room and a secretary who is working late in an office, Corey goes in search of Dr. Vanard, seeking revenge for what the old arthritic scientist has done to him. In a mindless rage, Corey straps Dr. Vanard to his lab equipment and electrocutes the mad doctor. Corey and his friends then go to David Clarke's home and beat him up, trying to get him to tell them what happened to the stolen gems that were tossed into Dave's pickup truck, but they finally realize he knows nothing. Corey then follows David Clarke's wife, Linda, and his young daughter, Nancy, as they leave town on a trip. The young ladies unknowingly have the stolen jewels in their car, concealed in her daughter's doll. Corey chases the two through a snow-covered forest before being shot by a pursuing policeman. He falls off a cliff, clutching the doll and the jewels as he dies.

Some years later, Susan Vanard (Regina Carrol), the mad scientist's daughter, tells the police she's been getting psychic messages from someone in her sleep, speaking about Haiti and voodoo. A weird doctor named Elton Corey (Kent Taylor) has returned from Haiti, bringing with him a murderous zombie named Akro, and has set out to avenge the death of his psychotic son Joe Corey on anyone who was in any way involved with the late Dr. Vanard. Akro the zombie (who for some reason has only one eye) strangles a number of people in alleys as the film proceeds, although his manner of choosing his victims seems to be totally random. Sgt. Cross (Tommy Kirk) however has been investigating the recent spate of murders and feels they are related to the now-closed Joe Corey case, and he questions Susan Vanard about her late father and his connection to what happened to Joe Corey.

A police officer, Sgt. Grimaldi, is killed and mutilated in an alley by Akro the zombie, and his severed head is mailed in a box to a horrified Sgt. Cross. Susan Vanard is kidnapped by the zombie and taken to Dr. Corey's lab, where he injects her with a serum that ages people prematurely and turns them into zombies. As Susan is rapidly transformed into a shriveled mummy, Sgt. Cross finds Dr. Corey's lab just in time. Akro the zombie turns on Dr. Corey when he overhears him say that Akro's body is wearing out and that he'll be dead soon. He strangles Dr. Corey in a rage, and then dies when he can no longer obtain his life-preserving elixir. In the final scene, Susan is able to drink an antidote that returns her to her normal state.

Cast

plus cast members added for this version only:

Production

Blood of Ghastly Horror was re-edited from an earlier film directed by Al Adamson in 1965 titled Psycho A-Go-Go . That film was a straight action thriller about a mentally disturbed man named Joe Corey who pulls off a diamond heist and the stolen jewels wind up hidden in a child's doll, which Corey must track down.

In 1969, Psycho A-Go-Go was totally re-edited, with additional footage featuring actor John Carradine as a mad scientist added, and the film was re-released by American General as The Fiend with the Electronic Brain . [4] In that version, the Joe Corey character is a Vietnam War veteran who is mentally ill because a mad scientist named Dr. Vanard (John Carradine) experimented on his brain. In the end, Corey winds up strapping Dr. Vanard to his own equipment and electrocuting the mad scientist. [5]

Still not satisfied, in 1971 Adamson added more new footage featuring actors Kent Taylor, Tommy Kirk and Regina Carrol, and re-edited the whole thing into an entirely different (horror) film titled Blood of Ghastly Horror. [6] This version was very successfully distributed by Adamson's company Independent-International. [7] [8] In this film, Kent Taylor plays Joe Corey's father who, upon returning from a trip to Haiti, learns that his son's mind and life was destroyed by Dr. Vanard, and decides to seek revenge on anyone in any way associated with his son's death. With the help of a Haitian zombie named Akro, he kidnaps Vanard's daughter (Regina Carrol) and seeks to take out his revenge on her. [9]

As if the film hadn't gone through enough title changes over the years, Sam Sherman later released it to U.S. late-night television as The Man With the Synthetic Brain (with a violent nightclub singer's murder excised). [10] [11] Most of the elaborate musical nightclub numbers that appeared in Psycho A-Go-Go were also cut from Ghastly Horror since actress Tacey Robbins had retired from acting by 1971 and Adamson no longer had a need to promote her singing abilities. Actor Lyle Felice, who had played a major role in Psycho A-Go-Go (as the leader of the jewel thieves) is hardly even in Ghastly Horror at all, as the whole jewel heist plotline was drastically shortened. [12] Dick Poston, a friend of Sam Sherman's who co-wrote the added material with him for Ghastly Horror, committed suicide several years later by purposely crashing the small plane he was flying in at the time. [13]

Sam Sherman was at times asked if the title wasn't a bit overblown, to which he replied "It had blood.....it had horror....and it was certainly ghastly!" He said the film in its third incarnation was incredibly successful, and "played the drive-in circuit and late-night television for many, many years." [14]

Mickey Mouse Club graduate Tommy Kirk appeared in the film for $1,000 for two days filming. He said he regards it as a low point of his career. [15]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Al Adamson</span> American filmmaker and actor (1929–1995)

Albert Victor Adamson Jr. was an American filmmaker and actor known as a prolific director of B-grade horror and exploitation films throughout the 1960s and 1970s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Carradine filmography</span>

This is a list of John Carradine's hundreds of theatrical films. Television appearances and television movies are not included.

<i>The Incredible Petrified World</i> 1957 film by Jerry Warren

The Incredible Petrified World is a 1959 science fiction film produced and directed by Jerry Warren, and starring John Carradine and Robert Clarke. The film follows four explorers who travel down into the depths of the sea and get stranded in an underwater cavern.

<i>Dracula vs. Frankenstein</i> 1971 film directed by Al Adamson

Dracula vs. Frankenstein, released in the UK as Blood of Frankenstein, is a 1971 American science fiction horror film directed and co-produced by Al Adamson. The film stars J. Carrol Naish as Dr. Durea, a descendant of Dr. Frankenstein who is working on a blood serum for his assistant Groton. The serum soon becomes sought after by Count Dracula, who hopes that it will grant him the ability to be exposed to sunlight without harm. Other members of the film's cast include Anthony Eisley, Regina Carrol, and Angelo Rossitto.

<i>Satans Sadists</i> 1969 film

Satan's Sadists is a 1969 American outlaw biker film directed by Al Adamson and starring Russ Tamblyn.

<i>Demented Death Farm Massacre</i> 1971 film

Demented Death Farm Massacre is a 1971 horror film directed by Fred Olen Ray and Donn Davison and features John Carradine as 'the Judge of Hell', who narrates the story.

<i>Angels Wild Women</i> 1972 film

Angels' Wild Women is a 1972 biker film written and directed by cult director Al Adamson. Preceded by Satan's Sadists (1969) and Hell's Bloody Devils (1970), it is the last in a trio of (unrelated) motorcycle gang films directed by Adamson for Independent-International Pictures Corp., a company he co-founded with Sam Sherman. The plot centers on a group of tough biker babes who leave their cycle gang boyfriends to go on a violent rampage. When a cult leader kills one of the girls, the others go out for revenge.

<i>Frankenstein Island</i> 1981 American film

Frankenstein Island is a 1981 science fiction horror film produced, written, composed, edited and directed by Jerry Warren and starring John Carradine and Cameron Mitchell. The plot concerns a group of balloonists stranded on an island where they are captured by Dr. Frankenstein's female descendant, Sheila Frankenstein, who has been kidnapping shipwrecked sailors for years and turning them into zombies.

Jerry Warren was an American film director, producer, editor, screenwriter, cinematographer, and actor. Warren grew up wanting to get into the film business in Los Angeles, California. He appeared in small parts in a few 1940s films such as Ghost Catchers, Anchors Aweigh, and Unconquered.

Doctor Dracula is a 1978 horror film directed by Al Adamson, featuring John Carradine. According to Vinegar Syndrome website, who released a DVD version in 2018, the film is a "schizoid reworking" of Paul Aratow's Lucifers's Women.

<i>Terror Is a Man</i> 1959 Filipino/American horror film directed by Gerardo de León

Terror Is a Man is a 1959 black-and-white Filipino/American horror film directed by Gerardo de Leon.

<i>Brain of Blood</i> 1971 American film

Brain of Blood is a 1971 American horror film directed by Al Adamson and starring Grant Williams, Kent Taylor and Reed Hadley. Angelo Rossitto and John Bloom also appeared in it. It was also Hadley's last film appearance before his death in 1974.

<i>Carnival Magic</i> (1983 film) 1983 American film

Carnival Magic is a 1983 American film directed by Al Adamson and starring Don Stewart.

<i>The Mad Doctor of Blood Island</i> 1969 Filipino film

The Mad Doctor of Blood Island is a 1969 Filipino horror film, co-directed by Eddie Romero and Gerardo de Leon, and starring John Ashley, Angelique Pettyjohn, Eddie Garcia and Ronald Remy.

<i>The Brides of Blood Island</i> 1966 Filipino film

The Brides of Blood Island is a 1966 Filipino horror film directed by Eddie Romero and Gerardo de Leon from a screenplay by Cesar J. Amigo, and starring John Ashley, Kent Taylor, Beverly Hills, Eva Darren and Mario Montenegro. It was the first movie that Ashley made in the Philippines, beginning a long association between Ashley and that country. The Brides of Blood Island was the second in a series of four horror films produced by Romero and Kane W. Lynn known as the "Blood Island" series, which also included Terror Is a Man, The Mad Doctor of Blood Island and Beast of Blood. Brides of Blood was later released to television syndication in some areas as Island of Living Horror.

<i>Beast of Blood</i> (film) 1970 film by Eddie Romero

Beast of Blood, released in the UK as Blood Devils, is a 1970 Filipino horror film. A sequel to The Mad Doctor of Blood Island, it was directed by Eddie Romero. It was the fourth in a series of four Filipino horror films, produced by Romero and Kane W. Lynn, known as the "Blood Island" series, which also included Terror Is a Man, Brides of Blood and The Mad Doctor of Blood Island. It was also Romero's last film for Lynn's Hemisphere Pictures, as the two went their separate ways after this film was completed.

<i>House of the Black Death</i> 1965 American film

House of the Black Death is a 1965 American horror film directed by Harold Daniels, Reginald LeBorg and Jerry Warren. The film was written by Richard Mahoney, based on a novel titled The Widderburn Horror by Lora Crozetti. The movie starred Lon Chaney Jr. and John Carradine, although the two actors shared no scenes in the film.

<i>Psycho A-Go-Go</i> 1965 film

Psycho A-Go-Go is a 1965 crime thriller directed by Al Adamson, starring Roy Morton and distributed by Hemisphere Pictures. The film was originally a straight action thriller, about a psychotic jewel thief who stalks a young woman and her child into the wilderness to get back some stolen jewels hidden in the child's doll. There were a number of musical nightclub scenes in the film, as director Adamson was trying to promote actress Tacey Robbins' singing career at the time. Al Adamson played a cameo in the film, playing one of the jewel thieves who gets shot to death on a rooftop by one of his own cohorts.

The Fiend with the Electronic Brain was a 1969 low-budget science fiction film directed by Al Adamson and starring John Carradine. In 1971, this film was re-edited, with newly filmed footage added, into a very different version that was re-released to theaters as Blood of Ghastly Horror.

Kane W. Lynn (1919–1975) was an American film producer who made a number of movies in the Philippines with producer Irwin Pizor and Filipino director Eddie Romero as Hemisphere Pictures, or the House of Horror as they often referred to themselves. Later Pizor quit the company after an argument, and when Romero left to form a production company with actor John Ashley, Lynn tired of making movies and his Hemisphere Pictures became just a movie distributor, mainly handling adult films and low budget B-movies. It was his guidance that kept Hemisphere Pictures solvent and constantly moving forward, releasing a diverse product line of low-budget independent movies from the early 1960s through the mid-1970s.

References

  1. Blood Of Ghastly Horror (1967) . Retrieved 4 June 2024 via letterboxd.com.
  2. Cavett Binion. "Blood of Ghastly Horror". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times . Baseline & All Movie Guide. Archived from the original on 30 January 2013.
  3. Sherman, Sam (2002). "Blood of Ghastly Horror" (audio commentary track). Troma Entertainment. #9026.
  4. Ray, Fred Olen (1991). "The New Poverty Row". McFarland and Co. Inc. ISBN   0-89950-628-3. Page 110
  5. Ray, Fred Olen (1991). "The New Poverty Row". McFarland and Co. Inc. ISBN   0-89950-628-3. Page 110
  6. Vagg, Stephen (9 September 2019). "The Cinema of Tommy Kirk". Diabolique Magazine.
  7. Ray, Fred Olen (1991). "The New Poverty Row". McFarland and Co. Inc. ISBN   0-89950-628-3. Page 110
  8. Sherman, Sam (2002). "Blood of Ghastly Horror" (audio commentary track). Troma Entertainment. #9026.
  9. Ray, Fred Olen (1991). "The New Poverty Row". McFarland and Co. Inc. ISBN   0-89950-628-3. Page 111
  10. O'Neill, James (1994). "Terror on Tape". Billboard Books. ISBN   0-8230-7612-1. Page 39
  11. Sherman, Sam (2002). "Blood of Ghastly Horror" (audio commentary track). Troma Entertainment. #9026.
  12. Sherman, Sam (2002). "Blood of Ghastly Horror" (audio commentary track). Troma Entertainment. #9026.
  13. Sherman, Sam (2002). "Blood of Ghastly Horror" (audio commentary track). Troma Entertainment. #9026.
  14. Sherman, Sam (2002). "Blood of Ghastly Horror" (audio commentary track). Troma Entertainment. #9026.
  15. Minton, Kevin, "Sex, Lies, and Disney Tape: Walt’s Fallen Star", Filmfax Issue 38, April 1993 p 71