Who’s heard of the movie, Z.P.G. (1972)? I never had until I gazed upon the groovy cover art on the Kino Lorber Blu-ray release, read a quick synopsis on IMDb, and then promptly purchased it. Having finally watched it (I needed a “Z” for the Countdown to Halloween, you know), I can report what a…

For all intents and purposes, You’ll Like My Mother (1972) is an early 70s television movie of the week thriller… except that it’s not really. It received a theatrical release. With the exception of the subject matter for one particular scene, though, there’s no reason I know that it shouldn’t have been made for the…

Although one of its producers is Milton Subotsky, it’s not an Amicus Production. Nevertheless, The Uncanny (1977) would fit nicely among the studio’s horror anthologies. A Canadian/British co-production, the movie was made three years after Amicus had transitioned from anthologies to adventure films like The Land that Time Forgot (1974) and At the Earth’s Core…

Originally posted during 2019’s Countdown to Halloween… It wouldn’t be a Countdown to Halloween without a Paul Naschy film and the recent Blu-ray release of The Mummy’s Revenge (1975) from Ronin Flix was a perfect opportunity to include one. The title is appropriate because, in most mummy movies that I recall, the titular creature is…

Watching Legend of Horror has left me playing junior detective in its wake. For a movie supposedly made in 1972, it looks as if it’s at least a decade older, and not just because it’s presented in black and white. The credits also refer to flashback footage by another director, Enrique Carreras, when this movie…

Death by Invitation (1971) opens with a guerilla filmmaking reenactment of an angry, 17th century mob capturing a witch and carrying her through town. Writer/director Ken Friedman uses handheld cameras, close-ups, POV shots, and freeze frame to suck us into the action. Even though the setting doesn’t feel 100% authentic, it’s effective and establishes high…

You can’t blame Hammer for trying. First, it attempted to modernize its gothic Dracula saga by jumping 100 years into the future with Dracula A.D. 1972. Then, it committed to the conceit by making a direct sequel a year later, The Satanic Rites of Dracula. Both are incredibly fun films, yet they couldn’t be more…

Before we get to Milton Subotsky’s obligatory excuses for why What Became of Jack & Jill (1972) failed, I have to say that I kind of liked it. I watched it on a bootleg DVD because I wanted to be an Amicus Productions completist and it’s a movie of which I’d never heard, much less…

It seems that Milton Subotsky had an explanation for every Amicus Productions film that wasn’t a hit. In “Amicus: The Friendly Face of Fear,” author Allan Bryce quotes Subotsky regarding The Mind of Mr. Soames (1970): This could have been one of the great science-fantasy films of all time. The trouble was that we never…

Although Devil’s Nightmare (1971) includes beheadings and impalements, it’s hard to top the shock of the movie’s opening sequence. Other films have shown the death of a baby, but I can’t think of one that graphically represents a long dagger piercing a baby’s swaddled body and the resulting pool of blood soaking into its blanket.…