Fred Olen Ray Movies
The remarkable thing about those who work the B-quickie end of the movie business is how much they love films, how much they love to work, and how much they're willing to give up to create their ribbons of dreams. Director/screenwriter/makeup artist Fred Olen Ray hocked virtually everything he owned to make The Alien Dead (1978). Never mind that, as a graduate of the Brown University School of Engineering, Ray could have named his own salary in practically any job in his field: Celluloid was in his blood, and there it would remain from 1978 to the present. Often shooting four or more films per year, Ray occasionally turns up something that transcends the exploitation film genre and his miserly budgets; if you look at them objectively, films like Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers (1988) and Beverly Hills Vamp (1989) are heaps better than most of the dreck clogging up the video stores' R-rated shelves. If nothing else, few other bottom-barrel filmmakers outside of Fred Olen Ray can boast an acting talent pool that has included the likes of Lawrence Tierney, Buster Crabbe, John Philip Law, Jan Michael Vincent, P.J. Soles, Britt Ekland, Martine Beswick, Julie Newmar, David Carradine, and Martin Landau. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1980
This early waterlogged effort from now-notorious exploitation king Fred Olen Ray (released directly to video) is an amateurish blend of 50s-style monster movie and Night of the Living Dead zombie mayhem. The zombies in question arise when a meteor (represented by a cheap 4th of July sparkler) crashes into a houseboat in a Florida swamp, killing the occupants but reviving them with cosmic radiation. Much like George A. Romero's ghouls, these zombies crave human flesh and are practically impervious to bullets (though apparently a good whack on the head will do the job, as illustrated ad nauseam). Preying at first on those unfortunate enough to stray into the swamp (whose deaths are blamed on alligator attacks), the ghouls later catch a whiff of the other cast members and massacre nearly everyone. The film simply ends with no apparent denouement and only a handful of characters surviving ... which may lead viewers to suspect that the director simply ran out of film. To his small credit, Ray manages to pepper the inane script with joking references to Roger Corman movies, but even Corman's stable of New World Pictures regulars would have disavowed any association with this bargain-basement nonsense. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi
Dr. Howard Machen (Kirk Alyn) and his students have been raiding California's Indian graveyards for archeological artifacts, a criminal practice that the university wants him to stop. After being ordered to make a complete inventory of his illegal finds, Machen regretfully withdraws from the latest field trip, but sends a group of students to dig without him. The young people stop at a remote gas station and receive a warning from an old Indian man (George Randall). He tells them to steer clear of Black Tree, where a great battle took place a century ago that returned many braves to the earth. The students find the location and an excavation yields plenty of ancient items, but strange things start happening and soon flaky D.J. (Jo Ann Robinson) is claiming that she senses evil about them. Her suspicions are confirmed when Randy (Richard Hench) is possessed by the spirit of Black Claw, a brutal Indian warrior who was known for dabbling in black magic. One by one the expedition is dispatched with arrows, clubs, and tomahawks and their skulls are peeled clean. Horror cult figures Forrest J. Ackerman and Carroll Borland make cameo appearances as faculty members in Scalps, which was an early film from prolific exploitation director Fred Olen Ray. ~ Fred Beldin, Rovi
- Starring:
- Kirk Alyn, Carroll Borland, (more)
Never released theatrically, this undistinguished monster film is set in the Florida swamps where an unusual meteor shower has given birth to a group of mutant youngsters who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. The youngsters become horribly disfigured and are overtaken by an uncontrollable need for specific human flesh in order to survive. The sheriff (Buster Crabbe in his last movie role) offers a reward for the "alligators" that are mauling people to death, as a journalist and a game warden pitch to the truth and head to a confrontation with the mutants. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Linda Lewis
- 1985
Florida shlockmeister Fred Olen Ray cranked out this ludicrous little charmer about a trans-dimensional mutant which "crosses over" via the annoying intervention of a busty psychic researcher of some sort (Anjelique Pettyjohn, who Star Trek fans may recognize as the green-haired female warrior who gets the hots for Captain Kirk in the episode "Gamesters of Triskelion"). Upon arrival in this dimension, a canister bearing the space-hopping beastie is left on someone's kitchen table (naturally) and eventually pops open, releasing its ravenous contents. After groping Pettyjohn for several minutes, the ineffectual hero manages to find a solution for stopping the rapidly-growing monster's rampage... or not. Daring viewers who manage to wade through this mutant mess are rewarded (kind of) with a gratuitously rockabilly-themed end title sequence intercut with outtakes that are more entertaining than the entire movie. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi
- Starring:
- Aldo Ray, Angelique Pettyjohn, (more)
Fred Olen Ray always manages to attract major names to his bargain-basement actioners, and Armed Response is no exception. The scene is Chinatown, where Yakuza boss Mako yearns to get his hands on a stolen jade statue. David Goss, son of retired cop Lee van Cleef and the brother of Vietnam veterans David Carradine and Brent Huff, is hired by Mako to deliver half a million dollars to the crooks who've got the statue. Things go awry, ending in a shootout. Mortally wounded, Goss brings the statue home, at which point a vengeful Carradine picks up the storyline. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- David Carradine, Lee Van Cleef, (more)
- 1986
- R
In this provocative and scary supernatural thriller, a brides happy honeymoon aboard an Acapulco-bound yacht with her husband, two of his buddies from Vietnam and their girl friends, turns to terror when someone or something begins to kill them one by one. In the end, only she lives to tell the grisly tale via flashback. It seems that the killings have something to do with the terrible things the veterans did to the innocent back during the war. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Britt Ekland, John Phillip Law, (more)
- 1986
This low-budget, supernatural, tongue-in-cheek story is about an ancient Egyptian princess out to maintain her immortality. Nefratis (Michelle Bauer) has two problems: her tomb has been desecrated, and she needs some special amulets (now in California) that are used in the rituals of human sacrifice to keep herself alive. After she kills the professor responsible for the sacrilege committed against her tomb, the professor's son David Manners (Richard Alan Hench) and his friend Helen (Susan Stokey) set out to solve the mystery behind the murder. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Cameron Mitchell, John Carradine, (more)
Gorgeous space traveller Taura (Sandy Brooke) is captured on the planet Arous (as in "The Brain From..."?) Taura is accused of a murder she didn't commit by Bantor (Ross Hagen) , chief flunkey of the all-powerful Inquisitor (Aldo Ray). She is incarcerated in an intergalactic prison ship, populated by beautiful, barely dressed woman. Thus does science fiction segue into "babes behind bars",complete with a sadistic female guard named Muffy (Dawn Wildsmith). Don't worry: you're not supposed to take this one seriously. John Carradine costars in this lively R-rated cheapie, which was also released as Star Slammer. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ross Hagen, Sandy Brooke, (more)
- 1987
- R
In this fast-paced actioner, a brave young woman must deliver a specially designed, top-secret super-destructo armored motorcycle that runs on oxygen to the US military after the man assigned to deliver it, her lover, is murdered by enemy agents. Soon after finding his body, the woman finds a video he made that tells her how to work the machine and where she must take it. Unfortunately for her, the enemy is out there waiting and determined to steal the bike for themselves. Part of the fun in this film is looking for popular B movie stars from years' past. Such stars include Huntz Hall, Troy Donahue, and Michael Reagan. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Heather Thomas, Jeffrey Combs, (more)
- 1987
- R
Drug enforcement agent Cat (Kathy Shower) is sent to Mexico by her boss (Robert Quarry) when fellow agent and former boyfriend Clint (Brian Thompson) is held captive by cocaine-trafficking fiends. The head of the drug cartel turns out to be Morgan (William Smith), a former agent now on the wrong side of justice. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Brian Thompson, Kathy Shower, (more)
- 1987
- R
Phantom Empire pokes fun and pays a sly tribute to the sci-fi serials that made Saturday afternoon at the movies such a treat. Featuring plenty of in-jokes, the story centers on the hunt for a lost stash of diamonds that leads the hero into a fabulous subterranean world ruled by a mysterious beauty and scads of scary mutants. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ross Hagen, Jeffrey Combs, (more)
- 1987
- R
A surprisingly slick flick from Emperor of Exploitation Fred Olen Ray, the story (which Ray co-wrote with T.L. Lankford, borrowing heavily from the director's earlier Biohazard) begins when a satellite carrying top-secret bio-engineered mutants plummets to Earth and disgorges its slavering contents in a scrap-yard outside Los Angeles. Hot on the beast's slimy trail are a pair of L.A. cops (Russ Meyer-veteran Charles Napier and the miscast Ann Turkel), who butt heads with their chief (Bo Svenson), the military, and the scientists who bred the monster -- until the inevitable confrontation, which features a no-holds-barred grudge match between the toothy slime-demon and a chainsaw-wielding Napier. Campy, fun performances by the talented leads (especially Julie Newmar as a psychic who assists the investigation) elevate this material far beyond the limitations of its hoary premise and Alien-esque monster. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi
- Starring:
- Charles Napier, Ann Turkel, (more)
One of the few sleaze-horror movies that actually delivers on the lurid promise of its title (and what a title!), this trashy treasure from the irrepressible Fred Olen Ray also sports a classic exploitation cast, toplined by "Scream Queen" Linnea Quigley. Quigley plays a cute young runaway whose desperate dive into the Hollywood prostitution racket lands her smack in the middle of a demonic chainsaw death-cult, presided over by none other than Texas Chainsaw Massacre's "Leatherface," Gunnar Hansen. This deliberately over-the-top item makes no pretense about its primary mission -- the display of female nudity and severed body parts -- and comes through with flying colors, so to speak. Highlights include a decidedly un-subtle cross-dressing hooker, an Elvis-loving cultist who covers her movie posters with plastic before chainsawing her next john, a victim's-eye view of a chainsaw attack, and a body-painted Quigley performing the "Virgin Dance of the Double Chainsaws!" ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi
- Starring:
- Gunnar Hansen, Linnea Quigley, (more)
Frank McBain (Gary Busey) is a cop who earned the nickname of "bulletproof" from the dozens of shootings he has survived over his career. He is called on to retrieve a tank held by communists across the border of Mexico. The enemies are cardboard caricatures of Arabs, Russians, and Mexicans led by the evil Colonel Kartiff (Henry Silva). Darlanne Fluegel co-stars with Juan Fernandez and Rene Enriquez in this forgettable feature. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Gary Busey, Darlanne Fluegel, (more)
In a future where the planet Earth has been poisoned by radiation, a fearless warrior named Dow (David Carradine) stands as mankind's last hope against a tyrannical ruler known only as The Warlord (Sid Haig) and his murderous band of mutant warriors. Accompanied only by the beautiful but fierce warrior Danny (Dawn Wildsmith) and the unpredictable Ammo, Dow attempts to conquer the desert savages who seek to rule the world. By summoning the courage and resourcefulness that will allow the fearless trio to do battle with an army of relentless killers, they make one last heroic attempt to save the world or die trying. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- David Carradine, Dawn Wildsmith, (more)
- 1988
"B"-sleaze auteur Fred Olen Ray pounded out this vampire parody, which stars career nerd Eddie Deezen as an affable dork and wannabe Hollywood hot-shot who discovers that a high-market bordello -- overseen by slinky Madam Cassandra (Britt Ekland) -- is actually a den of lascivious vampire bimbos from hell. Though his companions are easily lured by the ladies' deadly charms, Deezen takes a definite liking to his self-proclaimed title of Vampire Hunter, even going as far as to sew a crucifix into his skivvies. Laughing yet? This is actually one of Ray's more witty efforts -- with a manic pace, some clever in-jokes, copious amounts of skin, and a throwaway attitude that makes the relentless silliness a bit more palatable... although Deezen's hyperkinetic mugging may be more than some viewers can endure. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi
- Starring:
- Eddie Deezen, Britt Ekland, (more)
This low-budget independent movie is a spoof of low-budget independent filmmaking. The story centers on "Faraday International Productions" and the shooting of the laughably awful sub-B horror movie, "I Rip Your Flesh (With Pliers)." Among the film's highlights are semi-nude shots of several attractive actresses. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- Starring:
- Robert Quarry, Linnea Quigley, (more)
- 1989
There's not much doubt this film's a direct descendant of Schwarzenegger's Terminator classic, though it's certainly a distant descendant. Here a fugitive from a far-away planet escapes execution in a hijacked spaceship and crashes on the planet Earth where he's befriended by some young campers and the local constable. However this Terminator take also has a chasing enforcer (the Alienator) who shows up before long, sent to capture the escapee. The earthlings come to the defense of their new friend and fight it out with the indestructible Alienator. ~ Rovi
- Starring:
- Jan-Michael Vincent, John Phillip Law, (more)
- 1990
- R
Veteran schlock merchant Fred Olen Ray serves up this silly horror comedy with a hearty helping of gratuitous softcore skin, cheap monster effects, and walk-ons from assorted B-movie names, including David Carradine, Dick Miller, and Arte Johnson. The thin plot involves a group of curvaceous coeds whose restoration of an old mansion awakens a leering, lecherous demon who is just itching to do all manners of unspeakable things to them. Only a few minutes of screen time are devoted to the drooling cartoon monster (designed by horror critic Chas Balun), which looks like one of Robert Williams' Rat Fink creations. Miller's brief appearance is amusing, but Carradine is just hitting his marks; stars Monique Gabrielle and Madison Stone were already well on their way to lucrative careers in soft- and hardcore skin flicks. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi
- 1990
- R
This gangster satire involves a boss (William Hickey) who turns over the reins of his organization to an incompetent son (Eddie Deezen). ~ John Bush, Rovi
- Starring:
- Eddie Deezen, Morgan Fairchild, (more)
This is a movie about a movie that is entitled Bad Girls from Mars. Mystery develops when the bountifully buxomed leading ladies are murdered one-by-one. All fingers point to a mysterious masked man who is leaving notes around to add to the suspense. Most of the crimes involve some sort of nasty sex scene, making the detective on the case wary of several of the deviant characters involved in the movie production. The viewer must determine who the real culprit is. ~ Rovi
- 1990
- R
This horror is set in a scary haunted house where researchers have come to investigate. Ten years before, a number of murders occured there and now it is rife with restless spirits lead by the mummified corpse of a fallen priest who resides in the basement. The only one who can save the imperiled researchers is another fallen priest who must somehow regain his lost faith if he is to succeed. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1991
Actress Brinke Stevens hosts this compilation of interviews with 11 low-budget filmmakers, mostly in the horror genre. Among the directors profiled are Jeff Burr, Fred Olen Ray, Charles Band, Scott Spiegel, J.R. Bookwalter and David DeCoteau (who also happens to be this film's executive producer). ~ Brian Gusse, Rovi
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