Author Archive: Retro

Psychotic 14th Century conquistador leads an expedition into the mountains and is never heard from again…until 500 years later, when a lightning bolt releases him from a state of suspended animation, and he goes on a murderous rampage. Dir. Richard E. Cunha

Psychotic 14th Century conquistador leads an expedition into the mountains and is never heard from again…until 500 years later, when a lightning bolt releases him from a state of suspended animation, and he goes on a murderous rampage. Dir. Richard E. Cunha

Partially deaf teenager Carafotes becomes alienated when prevented from playing football because of his handicap. He must deal with his parents, coach, teammates, his new girlfried and a bad crowd he almost falls into, before confronting the school board.

No relation to the 1953 El Alamein (beyond a common “real life” source), The Battle of El Alamein was a French-Italian coproduction, largely lensed in Spain. Set during the titular desert battle of 1942, the film departs from expectation by concentrating on the Axis point of view. Though they mistrust one another, the German and Italian troops are forced to work shoulder to shoulder to ward off the British. And talk about revisionist history: Rommel (Robert Hossein) is the hero of the piece, and Montgomery (Michael Rennie) is the villain! Battle of El Alamein would make a fascinating triple feature with Five Graves to Cairo (1943) and The Desert Fox (1953). Incidentally, the “Calvin Jackson Padgett” credited with the direction is really Giorgio Ferroni.

Low Budget feature starring John Ireland as a director filming a film on location in a house where seven murders were committed. John Carradine is the caretaker who warns them not to mess with things they do not understand(the murders were occult related)but Ireland wants to be as authentic as possible and has his cast re-enact rituals that took place in the house thus summoning a ghoul from the nearby cemetery to bump the whole film crew off one by one.

In New York, a disco hostess is stalked by a sexual predator and she requests help from a vice squad detective who takes a personal interest in the case.

Idealist quits his dead-end job and goes into business for himself as owner, and sole driver, of a taxi service. He finds out it’s not as easy as it looks. Color. Dir. John Astin.