PAGES OF DEATH 1962

First released in 1962, this 27 minute short film purports to show the evils of pornography and its horrific effects on society with an emphasis on turning high school-age males into psychotic murderers. For decades it was considered a lost film, but in 2015 a 16mm print was discovered by the Oregon Historical Society who have kindly posted it on YouTube for our enjoyment in all its fading-to-red glory. 

Hysterically over-wrought and pushing its pro-censorship message with the subtilty of a jackhammer, its one of those educational/propaganda films in which the production history is almost as interesting as the film itself. It was produced by the radio program Hour of St. Francis and distributed by the Cincinnati, OH. based Citizens for Decent Literature. Also affiliated with the production was religious zealot and anti-pornography zealot Charles Keating, who spent most of the 50s and 60s railing against any type of adult entertainment. He then entered into banking where in the 80s he was president of the infamous Lincoln Savings and Loan whose failure cost over 20,000 customers (many of them elderly) their life savings and led to the "Keating Five" scandal. It would seem pornography is the root of all evil in society while evil bankers bilking people out of their savings is for the greater good.

Busy character actors Paul Picerni (THE UNTOUCHABLES TV Show) and Mark Allen portray a couple of hard-nosed police detectives investigating the murder and implied rape of a young girl in which the trail leads them to a store that sells candy, school supplies, and "adult magazines & sex paperbacks". The victim is portrayed as being the child of hard working middle class parents while the eventual suspect is a spoiled high schooler of obnoxious egotistical parents.

Picerni gets to recite a couple of "in your face" Jack Webb-type monologues, especially when discovering the suspects porn stash ("Evidently he's been ordering from the back of magazines...This is hardcore stuff"). In fact the whole thing has the slightly more sleazy feel of a DRAGNET episode. 

Also in the cast is John Larch who appeared in about every TV show during the 60s and 70s and the film's narrator is sportscaster Tom Harmon whose the father of actor Mark Harmon. Enjoy!

HOLLYWOOD 90028

 

"The bizarre and terrifying story of a psychotic killer"

Christina Hornisher was one of the few women outside of the Corman/New World factory that directed an exploitation movie (along with Doris Wishman & Roberta Findlay) and this recently re-discovered oddity is a fascinating up-till-now lost film along with being a wonderful time capsule of late 60’s Los Angeles. Hornisher went to UCLA film school in the late 60’s where B.W.L. Norton, Gloria Katz & Richard Blackburn were among her classmates with Dorothy Arzner being one of her instructors.

She directed several interesting short films while there and gathering the necessary financing and personnel she started production in 1969 on HOLLYWOOD 90028. As this would be her debut film, she chose an exploitation-type subject which could be easily sold, hopefully making some money and could be used as a steppingstone in the industry. Unfortunately like many low budget filmmakers she saw her creation disappear into the murky depts of shady distribution. Filmed in fits & starts starting in 1969, it was finally released in 1973 and was retitled several times including TWISTED THROATS and THE HOLLYWOOD HILLSIDE STRANGLER (to cash-in on an actual serial killer) in the coming years. Interestingly her classmate at UCLA Richard Blackburn wrote & directed the amazing LEMORA: A CHILD’S TALE OF THE SUPERNATURAL in 1973 which sadly ended up with much the same fate.

For decades afterwards the only way to see HOLLYWOOD 90028 was a truly horrible video tape derived transfer that left many scenes intelligible. In 2024 Grindhouse Releasing put out a spectacular looking Blu-ray packed with extras.

Initially made during the time when adult films were moving from softcore to full-on XXX, it is sometimes referred to as feminist manifesto on the porn industry, but it’s mostly a combination of a character study of people working in the lower level of the porn industry along  with a serial killer plotline. When it was released in 1973 the height of the “porn chic” era was in full bloom where it was thought that adult films might become a legitimate genre and XXX films like DEEP THROAT were outgrossing Hollywood blockbusters, but by contrast HOLLYWOOD 90028 deals with people working in the lower rungs of the industry.

We first meet Mark (Christopher Augustine) as he strolls down a nighttime Sunset Strip. Stopping at a diner, he meets a woman, and they go to her small apartment where he methodically strangles her as they begin to make love. From this first sequence we know we are in a different place exploitation -wise as the camera slowly prowls around her living quarters showing us her various knickknacks and record albums (Paul McCartney’s first solo album can be seen) which gives the victim an identity and individuality.

The next day Mark heads off to work where he works as a cinematographer and editor for Jobal (musician Dick Glass – one of a few music connections in the film) who produces porn loops. Mark is very conscientious in his work as he efficiently bustles about arranging lights and the camera. The shoot is a solo with a single female performer and Hornisher films it in the most unerotic way possible. There is no soundtrack music, only the noise of the camera and Jobal’s increasingly uncomfortable sounding voice commands & heavy breathing while focused from up above on the woman as the camera pushes slowly into his sweating face.

Later at another shoot this time with S&M themes Mark strikes up a friendship with one of the female actors Michelle (Jeannette Dilger). He gives her a ride home and they have coffee and later she cooks him dinner. The sequence puts the viewer on edge as we keep waiting for “it” to happen, but the pair seem to strike up an actual friendship. Michelle refuses to have sex with Mark which sends him on a trip to an adult bookstore to seek out a loop starring her. This sequence is made even more uncomfortable by the salesclerk watching a religious show on a TV with the preacher droning on as Mark enters a booth.

During their time together Michelle relates her sad story to Mark as she tells of coming to L.A. from a small Midwest town in order to break into movies and how instead she started the slow slide from posing for “art” photographs to ending up working in porn loops. Michelle sees her work as the bottom her career while Mark sees porn as steppingstone to work in legitimate films. We see him at a job interview where unable to show any of his work in films he offers the excuse that “everything is back in New York City” but we witness the futility of his career hopes.

Later Mark murders another woman that he picks up hitchhiking in a lengthy sequence involving a sailboat and the woman’s constant inane babbling as we slowly begin to witness his further mental decline. Before he picks her up, we see footage of him driving alone along streets much like Jacques Demy’s MODEL SHOP 1969. This may seem like a way to pad out the running time, but it also shows his isolation from society.

At various times during the film Mark relates his life story and we see photographs & home movies of him as a child where he is an outsider even to his own family and it is hinted at that he was responsible for his brother’s death. With these Hornisher seems to be looking back at Roman Polanski’s REPULSION 1965 and Michael Powell’s PEEPING TOM 1960 while also looking forward to the “loner serial killer” films in the 80’s such as DON’T ANSWER THE PHONE! 1980 and MANIAC 1980. The PEEPING TOM references will especially come to fruition in the films horrific climax which while invoking Powell’s film also stands as one of the most shocking final shots in 70’s cinema.

Although shot entirely in Los Angeles this not the sunny palm tree-lined city but the dirty and sordid backstreets, porn shops, and smog chocked street. Even when Mark and Michelle stroll through Century City the streets are eerily quiet and deserted making them look totally alone and isolated.

With his first screen credit Basil Poledouris (CONAN THE BARBARIAN 1982) composes a beautifully evocative score which is included on a CD with the Grindhouse Blu-ray.

Sadly, this would be Christina Hornisher’s only feature film. She passed away in 2003 with HOLLYWOOD 90028 still being a forgotten film at the time. From 1966 to 1970 she was married to Jean Pierre Geuens was cinematographer on this film along with Richard Blackburn’s LEMORA: A CHILD’S TALE OF THE SUPERNATURAL.

Lead actor Christopher Augustine is an accomplished drummer who played with Elton John, The Flying Burrito Brothers and Every Mother’s Son (most famous for top 40 hit Come on Down to My Boat in 1967) among others and was a busy studio musician and photographer.

SHRIEK OF THE MULTILATED 1974

 

"Piece By Piece, By Piece, the Bodies Vanish in ... Shriek of the Mutilated"

One of the more bizarre offerings amid 70’s cinema bigfoot/yeti mania, SHRIEK OF THE MUTILATED is the cinema offspring of low budget New York director/writer/producer Ed Adlum (who was behind the druid/gore classic INVASION OF THE BLOOD FARMERS 1972) and the NYC sexploitation/ roughie creative team couple Michael and Roberta Findlay.  Although not living up to what one would think this pairing of inventive minds would conjure up, it’s still entertainingly deranged with retina burning 70’s fashions, the expected WTF dialogue, bright blood red splattered low-budget gore plus you get satanic rituals and cannibalism (!!) mixed in. What more could you want?

Written by Adlum & Ed Kelleher, SHRIEK shares crew members and cast from INVASION OF THE BLOOD FARMERS (and which would make a heck of a double feature with). Adlum reached out to Michael Findlay to direct, with Roberta managing the camera chores. The couple had separated by this time and as Roberta explains on the Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray commentary track Michael was too "psychologically damaged" to complete the film on his own, so she took over the director’s chair.

Opening with a prologue featuring someone wearing a bigfoot-like mask and a red robe next to a swimming pool who then chops off a victim’s head (which plops into the pool) while a giggling Michael Findlay looks on, we start with the standard Cryptozoology cinema scene of a professor lecturing a group of students on yeti-like creatures. The professor is Dr. Ernst Prell (Alan Brock) who is giving some last-minute instructions to a group of students who will accompany him on his expedition. The students are Keith Henshaw (Michael Harris), Karen Hunter (Jennifer Stock GOD’S BLOODY ACRE 1975), Tom Nash (Jack Neubeck INVAISON OF THE BLOOD FARMERS 1972) and Lynn Kelly (Darcy Brown). Most of the actors have an exceedingly small resume appearing here and in INVASION OF THE BLOOD FARMERS except for Jennifer Stock and Darcy Brown. Brown had an interesting sexploitation career appearing in DIARY OF A SWINGER 1967, BACCHANATE 1970 (which also has a Roberta Findlay cameo) and DYNAMITE 1972.

After some stilted dialogue outside the classroom the group goes to a party which features awkward dancing and a guy with a popcorn cart making the greasiest, most nasty-looking popcorn in the world while the song “Popcorn” by Hot Butter plays (this song was missing on previous home video until the Vinegar Syndrome release).  A survivor from one of Prell’s previous expeditions shows up at the party (sporting one of the greatest comb overs in cinema history) along with his wife and he gives a drunken monologue about the fate of the previous expedition. This leads to a bizarre out of nowhere sequence where we are treated to a double murder/revenge-murder involving an electric carving knife and a toaster.

The group travels to the “remote island” (a suburban house in Westchester County NY) in a van with flowers pasted on the side which gives off some Scooby Doo vibes. Of course, they stop at a gas station along the way so the old guy can ominously speak of their destination (“Cause no matter what I say, they're bound to get there, and they're bound to get what they went there for…”). Upon arriving they meet up with Dr. Karl Warner (Thom Ellis) who sports the balding guy with a ponytail look and wears knee-high boots with way too tight pants. Warner also has the whitest hairiest Native American ever seen who works for him as a caretaker and to whom he refers to him as “my Indian” (all of which sounds like even in 1974 was highly problematic).

Warner tells the group that there is a yeti in the area as he has heard its heart beating loudly and soon the expected carnage ensues with the gore mostly consisting of severed limbs tossed about and closeups of bloody scratched faces. The yeti is shown with surprising clarity for this type of film, and it looks like the camera work is mostly based on hiding the zipper. However, this all does play into the film’s bizarre climax.

The film has that low-budget weirdness about it with long stretches of people standing around bickering and/or shouting at each other, engaging in blustering monologues to explain plot points and particular to bigfoot cinema there’s aimless wondering about the woods.

The plot features bunches of expositions and random sequences through its first one-third or so and to its credit it does tie most of them into the films multi-layered conspiracy climax (one facet of which is made obvious to viewers and involves a “native dish”).

Roberta Findlay’s camerawork is sometimes very impressive with a nice autumnal feel to the film although we never feel like we are in anyplace remote starting with the iron girder and concrete bridge that accesses the “remote island.” Roberta is one of the more fascinating characters in the 1960’s NYC sexploitation world. She started working with then husband Michael on his “Flesh” trilogy in addition  to the infamous SNUFF in 1976. She was one of the few females who worked behind the camera in 60s sexploitation and later in in the coming decades hardcore. Along with her excellent take on Polanski’s REPULSION with A WOMAN’S TORMENT 1977 there are a few interesting horror films in her filmography including ORACLE 1985, BLOOD SISTERS 1988, and PRIME EVIL 1988. Michael Findlay would die in a helicopter accident on top of the Pan Am building in 1977, but Roberta is happily still with us. Her commentaries on various DVD/Blu-ray  releases are highly entertaining and informative.