Karen Huston Movies
- 1971
- PG
Lonely vampire Count Yorga and his bloodthirsty cohorts begin living in a ramshackle mansion located near an orphanage. This slightly fang-in-cheek horror film chronicles what happens when the Count falls in love with a toothsome young woman and tries to make her his bride. Fortunately for her, her boy friend has other ideas. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
This film of the wartime exploits of Baron Von Richthoven, who was also known as the "Red Baron," was a relatively lavish Corman-brothers production, and is directed by Roger Corman. The film's airborne dogfight sequences are among its most notable features. Vintage World War I airplanes were used, and accidents during filming resulted in one death and several injuries. The evolution of airborne warfare from being a sporting game between gentlemen to its use as an instrument of total war is integral to the story. Von Richthoven (John Phillip Law), who becomes an air ace and an important German hero, was an early aeronautical rival of Hermann Goering (Barry Primus). So important was he to German morale that he was asked to retire from fighting, so that he could assume a position in the post-war German government. He refused, and was killed by a young Canadian (Don Stroud) in an airborne battle. Spookily enough, even though he died in the air, his plane is reputed to have landed intact. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- 1969
Producer Roy Huggins and director Douglas Heyes, Maverick veterans both, reteamed for the made-for-TV Drive Hard, Drive Fast. Brian Kelly stars as a race car driver who would have been better off sticking to the track. Upon hopping out of his slicked-up auto, Kelly gets mixed up in an unsavory love triangle involving Joan Collins and Joseph Campanella. Before long, Kelly has to keep peeking over his shoulder to avoid being hacked to piece by a machete-wielding assailant. Completed in 1969, Drive Hard, Drive Fast was not telecast until September 11, 1973. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
The Boston Strangler adopts the split-screen technique then in vogue (see also The Thomas Crown Affair) to relate the true story of self-confessed mass murderer Albert DeSalvo. Adapted by Edward Anhalt from the book by Gerold Frank, the film covers the years 1962 to 1964, during which time a dozen women were raped and murdered in the Boston area. State-appointed officer John Bottomly (Henry Fonda) arrests as many known sex offenders as he can get his hands on in hopes of finding a clue as to the Boston Strangler's identity. As these things often happen, the police come across the necessary evidence through pure luck. Well-played by Tony Curtis (whose makeup is startling), DeSalvo himself does not appear until an hour into the film. When caught, the schizophrenic DeSalvo insists that he knows nothing of the murders. Under interrogation and hypnosis, his homicidal impulses are exposed. Meticulously cast, The Boston Strangler offers excellent vignettes by Sally Kellerman as the Strangler's only surviving victim and by Hurd Hatfield as an erudite sex pervert. When Boston Strangler was first shown on TV in 1974, a voice-over coda was added, noting that Albert DeSalvo was stabbed to death in prison on November 26, 1973, and that many experts were convinced that he was not the killer but that his confessions were the product of a delusional mind. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Tony Curtis, Henry Fonda, (more)
