Evil Town | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Directed by | Curtis Hanson Larry Spiegel Peter S. Traynor Mardi Rustam |
Written by | Royce D. Applegate Richard Benson Larry Spiegel |
Produced by | Joan Kasha William D. Sklar Peter S. Traynor |
Starring | James Keach Dean Jagger Robert Walker Jr. Doria Cook-Nelson Michele Marsh Christie Houser Hope Summers Lynda Wiesmeier |
Cinematography | Bob Ioniccio Bill Mann |
Edited by | David Blangsted Jess Mancilla Peter Parasheles |
Music by | Charles Bernstein |
Production company | Production Company: Mars Productions [1] |
Distributed by | New World Pictures Starmaker Video Trans World Entertainment (TWE) |
Release date |
|
Running time | 88 min. |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Evil Town is a 1987 American zombie horror film directed by Curtis Hanson, Mardi Rustam, Larry Spiegel and Peter S. Traynor. [1] [2] [3] [4] Evil Town was the last film with the actor Dean Jagger. [5]
The film depicts an evil scientist's (Dean Jagger) campaign to achieve eternal youth, through synthesizing a drug derived from human pituitary fluid. In extracting the fluid, he creates mindless zombies from the donors. Because the local town residents are in on the plot, to achieve immortality, they help the scientist, by abducting visitors who come through town. [6]
In 1973, director Curtis Hanson, with the pseudonym Edward Collins, shot a film called And God Bless Grandma and Grandpa. Producer Peter S. Traynor wanted to shoot new scenes. Which he did with actor Dean Jagger, in 1974, who played a character named "Dr. Shagetz." It was renamed God Bless Dr. Shagetz. In 1975, a litigation started between Traynor and the film's financial investors. It is rumored that with the name God Bless Dr. Shagetz, it had limited released in 1977. In 1983, a producer named Mardi Rustam, bought the films rights. [7]
The film went into production in 1984 and went through numerous re-writes and re-edits before release in 1987. [3] It is made up of footage of several older films, with major footage coming from the unfinished Dean Jagger film God Bless Dr. Shagetz (1974). When the pieces of the various older films were patched together, there was inclusion of some new footage, including some with Jillian Kesner and nude scenes with Playboy Playmate Lynda Wiesmeier. [8]
When beginning work on Evil Town in 1984, director Mardi Rustam liked the story enough to make his own version, which he released as Evils of the Night (1985), [8] [9] two years before the release of Evil Town.
Cavett Binion of All Movie Guide called it a "silly horror film" and noted that it was an assemblage of parts of earlier films, including an unfinished one from the 1970s, and that it was "spiced up with some gratuitous nudity courtesy of former Playboy playmate Lynda Wiesmeier". While remarking that the editor's efforts to maintain continuity were commendable, he concluded that "the end result seems hardly worth the effort". [10]
The film was scheduled for release on June 3, 1987, but due to the high level of anticipation for the movie, many theaters began showing it on the evening of June 2, 1987[ citation needed ]. It was released in the United States on VHS in November 1987. [11]
Curtis Lee Hanson was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. Born in Reno, Nevada, Hanson grew up in Los Angeles. After dropping out of high school, Hanson worked as photographer and editor for Cinema magazine. In the 1970s, Hanson participated as a writer for the horror film The Dunwich Horror (1970) and made his directorial debut the B-Movie Sweet Kill (1973), where he lacked creative control to fulfill his vision. While Hanson continued directing, he rose to prominence screenwriting critically acclaimed films such as The Silent Partner (1978), White Dog (1982), and Never Cry Wolf (1983).
Dean Jagger was an American film, stage, and television actor who won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Henry King's Twelve O'Clock High (1949).
Lynda Ann Wiesmeier was an American model and actress. She made her film debut in American Pop. Wiesmeier was selected as both cover model and Playmate of the Month for the July 1982 issue of Playboy magazine, and her centerfold was photographed by Richard Fegley. Wiesmeier also appeared in several Playboy newsstand special editions and videos, and worked steadily for Playboy for more than five years after she graced the magazine's fold-out page, first as a nude glamour and pin-up model, and then as a promotional model and a feature reporter for the Playboy Channel.
Malibu Express is a 1985 American action film starring Darby Hinton, Sybil Danning, Lori Sutton, and Art Metrano. It was directed, written, and produced by Andy Sidaris and is the first installment in the Triple B film series. The film features 1980s Playboy Playmates Kimberly McArthur, Barbara Edwards, Lorraine Michaels, and Lynda Wiesmeier in its cast, as well. In it, Danning "cinched her image as B-budget bad girl". Regis and Joy Philbin cameo as talk-show hosts.
Face of the Screaming Werewolf is a 1965 horror film directed by a low budget film maker Jerry Warren. The film was created by combining parts of two unrelated Mexican horror films, La Casa del Terror (1960), and La Momia Azteca (1957), with the addition of original footage shot by Warren. It was released on March 3, 1965, on a double-bill with another of Warren's films, Curse of the Stone Hand.
Snowbeast is a 1977 American made-for-television horror film starring Bo Svenson, Yvette Mimieux, Robert Logan and Clint Walker, and follows the story of a bloodthirsty Bigfoot-like monster terrorizing a ski resort in the Colorado Rockies. It was directed by Herb Wallerstein from a teleplay written by Joseph Stefano. The film originally premiered as the NBC Thursday Night Movie on NBC on April 28, 1977.
Halloween is a 1978 American independent slasher film directed and scored by John Carpenter, who co-wrote it with its producer Debra Hill. It stars Donald Pleasence, Jamie Lee Curtis, P. J. Soles, and Nancy Loomis. Set mostly in the fictional Illinois town of Haddonfield, the film follows mental patient Michael Myers, who was committed to a sanitarium for murdering his teenage sister one Halloween night during his childhood; he escapes 15 years later and returns to Haddonfield, where he stalks teenage babysitter Laurie Strode and her friends while his psychiatrist Dr. Samuel Loomis pursues him.
Evils of the Night is a 1985 American science fiction horror film starring Aldo Ray, Neville Brand, Tina Louise, John Carradine, and Julie Newmar. The film was directed, co-produced and co-written by Mardi Rustam.
Michele Marsh sometimes credited as Michèle Marsh, is a French-American television, theater, and film actress. She is best known for her portrayal of Hodel, the second of Tevye’s five daughters who falls in love with a student radical, in the 1971 film Fiddler on the Roof. She has acted mainly in television and in West Coast theatre. She resides in Idyllwild, California, where she performs with the Idyllwild Actors Theatre.