Neil Fletcher Movies
- 1981
- R
Deadly Blessing, a disappointing effort from famed horror-film director Wes Craven, tells the story of a woman's fight against a religious cult which will not stop at murder. Martha (Maren Jensen) lives alone near a conservative, repressive religious cult led by Isaiah (Ernest Borgnine). Martha's husband was murdered under mysterious circumstances after he left the cult. Martha and her two visiting friends Vicky (Susan Buckner) and Lana (Sharon Stone) find themselves being pressured to live in the area and they begin having nightmares and accidents. Soon more murders begin, and the woman fear for their lives. Craven gets good performances from his cast and bases his plot on the interesting premise of persecution and retribution, but the unsatisfying and implausible ending ruins what suspense he has built. While on the whole, the film is a failure, it has outstanding cinematography by Robert Jessup and a beautiful score composed by James Horner. ~ Linda Rasmussen, Rovi
- Starring:
- Maren Jensen, Susan Buckner, (more)
- 1967
Legendary bad-movie maven Larry Buchanan does a virtual remake of The She Creature (for reasons unknown) with this enjoyably silly outing. The story involves deranged stage mesmerist Dr. Basso (Les Tremayne), whose sessions with his pretty assistant Doreena (Pat Delaney) result in her regression into a hideous (or at least hideously-made) prehistoric sea monster, which he then manipulates into committing a series of gruesome murders at a remote resort -- all of which fulfill his earlier on-stage prophecies. One of Buchanan's many remakes of cheesy American International monster films, all of which made the originals seem positively brilliant by comparison, the film even features one of AIP's stock "heroes" -- the absolutely wooden Aron Kincaid, horrendously miscast as a psychiatrist. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi
- 1966
In this campy sci-fi film, the hero and his little band of post nuclear holocaust survivors find themselves stalked by telepathic cannibal mutants. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1966
This deliciously campy sci-film has developed a minor cult following. It chronicles the exploits of a Venusian bat-creature who tries to take over the Earth by invading the mind of a hapless victim and forcing the victim to attempt to shut off all the world's power sources. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
In this sci-fi film, lonely Martians wire Earth in hopes of finding fertile women to repopulate their dying world. They are particularly interested in a voluptuous dancing scientist. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1960
Edgar G. Ulmer, the phenomenally fast director of many a quickie horror effort, lensed Beyond the Time Barrier in Texas. Test pilot Maj. William Allison (Robert Clarke) is hideously disfigured by a mishap in space. In flashback, we learn that Clarke had earlier returned to his base, only to discover that he'd passed through a time warp and that the Earth has been decimated by some disaster or other. He crosses the path of the ruling class, led by the Supreme, and a tribe of mutants, left over from a plague caused by extraterrestrial radiation. Only by returning to his own time can Clarke save the world from this fate (sound familiar?). Augmented with footage from Fritz Lang's 1959 Journey to the Lost City (aka The Indian Tomb), Beyond the Time Barrier tries hard, but is ultimately defeated by its almost-nonexistent budget. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Darlene Tompkins, Arianne Arden, (more)
