ENTER THE DEVIL (1974) (AKA: The Eerie Midnight Horror Show) An art student (Stella Carnacina) is gradually terrorized/possessed by Satan (Ivan Rassimov). After the sexually repressed Carnacina purchases a life-size sculpture of Jesus on the cross (actually, the Devil in disguise) she has a premonition of the figure coming to life and raping her. More sexually inclined incidents torment Carnacina—including the obligatory masturbation scene—as her inhibitions (as well as her belt strap) loosen and she becomes a regular Jezebel. Even her father isn’t safe from her lustful appetite. The physical manifestation of stigmata is the final straw, and her parents bring in the exorcists. Just one of many indistinguishable and incredulous Italian Exorcist knockoffs with absolutely nothing to recommend aside from its camp value.
GANJA & HESS (1973) An aloof anthropologist (Duane Jones) is transformed into a vampire after being stabbed by his unstable assistant (director Bill Gunn) with a ceremonial blood dagger—Gunn shoots himself dead before Jones comes back to life. As his appetite for the red stuff intensifies, Jones graduates from stealing hospital blood bags to murdering a prostitute and her pimp and gorging on their wounds. Gunn’s cold-hearted wife (Marlene Clark) arrives on the scene looking for her missing husband only to end up bedazzled by Jones’ bizarre lifestyle and turned into a blood-drinker herself. An interesting if not wholly successful film, Ganja & Hess is a cerebral take on the American, low-budget vampire subgenre that arose in the wake of Count Yorga, Vampire (1970), and Blacula (1972)—but it’s never less than fascinating to watch. The performances feel detached from reality but serve to expand on Gunn’s surreal, dream-like style, as does the script even when touching on political undertones, including repressed homosexuality, mental illness, and the wealthy preying on the poor. Available for years only in a re-edited 80-minute cut called Blood Couple that eliminated a lot of the film’s subtext and male nudity.
THE THRILL KILLERS (1964) A man on his way to work is gunned down by a nomadic serial killer named Mad Dog (director Ray Dennis Steckler under his acting alias, Cash Flagg) who’s been randomly murdering people in and around Los Angeles. Meanwhile, a trio of ex-mental patients decapitate a man in his home before they terrorize the inhabitants of a remote roadhouse, most of whom are there to scout locations for an upcoming horror film. A woman escapes the killers’ clutches but is apprehended and kidnapped by Mad Dog. Probably writer/director Steckler’s most comprehensive movie from his colorful filmography, which includes the drive-in anti-classic, The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed Up Zombies. But that isn’t saying much. For Steckler fans only—whomever you are.
