Bret Wood Movies
- 2011
A willful demagogue (Courtney Patterson) fights to free a young woman from sexual slavery by confronting the cunning proprietor of a shady brothel (Daniel May) in this film combining elements of Frank Wedekind's play Death and the Devil with Anton Chekhov's short story A Nervous Breakdown. Meanwhile, as the brothel-owner uses his wits to distract the would-be liberator, the fates of a timid student (Clifton Guterman) and a naïve prostitute hang in the balance. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- 2005
- R
The sexually salacious cases originally presented in Richard von Krafft-Ebing's notorious, turn-of-the-century medical text come to the screen in a complicated collection of erotic stories strung together by the curious tale of a manipulative doctor who may not always have his patient's best interests in mind. From the story of a sexually repressed man who develops a troubling taste for human blood to the tale of a homosexual seeking to "cure" his condition, a masochist who enlists the aid of two corseted prostitutes in making his wildest dreams come true, and a lesbian who finds her sexual urges too powerful to resist when hired to tutor a sexually adventurous female student, the controversial case-studies that stunned Victorian England in the early years of the 1900s are recreated for the camera almost a century later to show just how little has changed in the realm of human sexuality. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jane Bass, Bryan Davis, (more)
- 2002
- R
- Add Hell's Highway: The True Story of Highway Safety Films to Queue Add Hell's Highway: The True Story of Highway Safety Films to top of Queue
As the 1950s drew to a close, high school hygiene films and VD cautionary tales gave birth to another, far more graphic sort of fear-inducing curriculum: the driver's-ed movie. Bearing such titles as Signal 30, The Third Killer, Wheels of Tragedy, and Highways of Agony, these films -- usually produced by the Highway Safety Foundation -- intercut staged, fictional tales of impudent hot-rodders and drunk-driving, non-safety-belt-wearing teens with actual accident footage. Director Bret Wood chronicles the history of this grisly subgenre with Hell's Highway, a documentary that details the growing need for teen-cautionary films in the late-'50s/early-'60s and the man who fulfilled it, Richard Wayman. Wayman, Wood learns, was an armchair policeman who liked to drop in on the scenes of various crimes, taking snapshots and other amateur-forensics data. He turned his hobby into a profession, however, when he hooked up with another accident-obsessive, Phyllis Vaughn, her sister, and a newspaper photographer. Pitching their idea to the Ohio Highway Patrol, the foursome went around to give lectures and slideshows to high schools; as their revenues and budgets grew, they began pre-packaging their worst-case driver scenarios in short films that were distributed nationwide throughout the '60s and '70s. ~ Michael Hastings, Rovi
- Starring:
- Helena Reckitt
France's master of erotic horror, Jean Rollin, directed this sexy and atmospheric story of Louise (Alexandra Pic) and Henriette (Isabelle Teboul), a pair of orphaned sisters whose tragic fate is compounded by the fact they have no sight. But the truth is, the sisters are not really blind -- they are, in fact, vampires, and due to their nocturnal habits, they can only see after the sun goes down, as they search for victims to provide them with fresh blood. Originally released as Les Deux Orphelines Vampires, Two Orphan Vampires was based on a novel, which was written by director and screenwriter Rollin. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Alexandra Pic, Isabelle Teboul, (more)
Jean Rollin, the French filmmaker who has earned a potent cult following for his unique blend of eroticism and horror, directed this disturbing tale of a woman who has come back from the dead. When the grave of Catherine (Francoise Blanchard) is disturbed by an earthquake and fouled by a chemical spill, the young woman, not long deceased, rises from her tomb with a taste for blood and a desire to return to the home where she grew up. Catherine finds herself drawn to Helene (Marina Pierro), who became her "blood sister" as a child. Similarly, Helene feels compelled to help her old friend, and as they are drawn closer together, Helene finds young women to satisfy Catherine's ever-increasing lust for blood and flesh. La Morte Vivante was released in English-speaking countries as The Living Dead Girl. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
Cult filmmaker Jean Rollin hit rock bottom with this soggy horror tale of drowned Nazis rising from their watery graves as hungry zombies. Howard Vernon leads a cast familiar to any fans of the prolific Jesus Franco, who was slated to direct this film before his bosses at Eurocine gave the assignment to Rollin. It mattered not, because Franco was able to take his own crack at the Nazi-zombie subgenre with the equally wretched Oasis of the Zombies. Bad cinema buffs are free to take their pick, while those looking for a better treatment of the same plot should consider Ken Wiederhorn's Shock Waves instead. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi
- Starring:
- Howard Vernon, Pierre Escourrou, (more)
This gory zombie film was directed by cult filmmaker Jean Rollin. The plot concerns a dangerous pesticide which is applied to grapes in a wine-producing region, turning the inhabitants into insane zombie killers. There is plentiful nudity and violence for the exploitation crowd, as well as crucifixion and a topless woman being impaled with a pitchfork by her own father. Horror fans will note the numerous similarities to Jorge Grau's hit Breakfast at Manchester Morgue, while mainstream viewers...well, they probably won't be watching in the first place. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi
- Starring:
- Marie-Georges Pascal, Serge Marquand, (more)
A scientist stricken with an insatiable hunger for blood dominates this strikingly atmospheric drama. Dr. Hess Green (Duane Jones), a wealthy and respected African-American anthropologist, is assigned a new assistant, an intelligent but unstable man named George Meda (Bill Gunn). One drunken night, George stabs Hess with a dagger from the ancient African tribe of Myrthia and then kills himself. The Myrthians were cursed with a thirst for human blood, and, by the time George's wife, Ganja (Marlene Clark), comes looking for him, Hess has developed a similar addiction to blood. Hess and Ganja fall in love, and they soon marry, but Hess infects his new bride with the Myrthian curse, which gives them eternal life, but at a terrible price. Actor, playwright, and novelist Bill Gunn was hired to write and direct a low-budget black vampire movie, but instead he delivered a thoughtful, impressionistic film that uses addiction to blood as a metaphor for African-American cultural and spiritual identity (and never once uses the word "vampire"). Ganja and Hess proved too deliberately paced and self-consciously surreal for the producers, who chopped it to 83 minutes, removed Sam Waymon's superb musical score, and retitled it Blood Couple. This mangled version was for many years the only one available, and it appeared under six different titles on home video before Bill Gunn's original version was restored for DVD release in 1998. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
Two girls fall into the hands of sadistic ship-wrecking pirates, then make a deal with the Devil to get revenge in this bloody horror film from cult director Jean Rollin. Filmed in a strange, expressionistic manner, the film once again solidifies Rollin's place as France's master horror stylist, even if his storylines leave much to be desired. It appears to move in a sort of convoluted dream-logic, with artifice taking precedence over coherence for much of the running time. The final revenge sequences are hauntingly effective, and those viewers who can forget traditional expository technique and just go with the flow are likely to find it chilling and memorable. Those simply looking for perversity will find it here too, as Joelle Coeur pleasures herself to the sounds of torture on a deserted beach. Though not for all tastes, Rollin's films certainly offer something different to jaded horror fans. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi
This fourth feature from cult horror director Jean Rollin begins with two girls dressed as clowns making a mad getaway from a reform school. The girls end up in the clutches of "The Last Vampire," a somewhat pathetic creature seeking to reproduce his race. Marie-Pierre Castel and Mireille d'Argent are the damsels in distress. Tthis film is probably the closest Rollin came to straight horror. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi
Rosso Segno Della Folia, an Italian horror film written, directed and photographed by Mario Bava, is the bloody story of an impotent man who turns to murder to vent his frustrations. The designer and owner of a fashion design business (Stephen Forsyth), frustrated with his own sexual failure, murders the new brides who have modelled his fashions. When he decides to murder his wife, she becomes the ghost who will not leave him alone. Director Bava, who began his career as a cinematographer, while directing mostly low-budget horror films, has become a cult figure among some fans and critics who admire his unique and beautiful visual style and his often very amusing exaggeration of the cliches of the genre. Rosso Segno Della Folia, released in the United States as Hatchet for a Honeymoon is not the best of Mario Bava's work, but this above-average horror film is a must see for those who love the genre and admire stylish horror films. ~ Linda Rasmussen, Rovi
To date, this D.W. Griffith epic is the only talking-picture effort to encapsulate the entire life of Abraham Lincoln, from cradle to grave. The script, credited to Stephen Vincent Benet, manages to include all the familiar high points, including Lincoln's tragic romance with Ann Rutledge (Una Merkel, allegedly cast because of her resemblance to Griffith favorite Lillian Gish), his lawyer days in Illinois, his contentious marriage to Mary Todd (Kay Hammond), his heartbreaking decision to declare war upon the South, his pardoning of a condemned sentry during the Civil War, and his assassination at the hands of John Wilkes Booth (expansively portrayed by Ian Keith). This was D.W. Griffith's first talkie, and the master does his best with the somewhat pedantic dialogue sequences; but as always, Griffith's forte was spectacle and montage, as witness the cross-cut scenes of Yankees and Rebels marching off to war and the pulse-pounding ride of General Sheridan (Frank Campeau) through the Shenandoah Valley. Thanks to the wizardry of production designer William Cameron Menzies, many of the scenes appear far more elaborate than they really were; Menzies can also be credited with the unforgettable finale, as Honest Abe's Kentucky log cabin dissolves to the Lincoln Memorial. As Abraham Lincoln, Walter Huston is a tower of strength, making even the most florid of speeches sound human and credible; only during the protracted death scene of Ann Rutledge does Huston falter, and then the fault is as much Griffith's as his. Road-shown at nearly two hours (including a prologue showing slaves being brought to America), Abraham Lincoln was pared down to 97 minutes by United Artists, and in that length it proved a box-office success, boding well for D.W. Griffith's future in talkies (alas, it proved to be his next-to-last film; Griffith's final effort, The Struggle was a financial disaster). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Walter Huston, Una Merkel, (more)
At the request of his star Buster Keaton, producer Joseph M. Schenck purchased an obsolete ocean liner for $20,000. Keaton wanted to use the boat as a "prop" in his upcoming feature comedy, but went into production with nary a plot idea in his head. Eventually, Buster and his chief gagman Clyde Bruckman came up with a story involving two wealthy, pampered young people (played by Keaton and Kathryn McGuire), who through a series of fantastic but logical plot convolutions end up stranded together on a drifting, deserted ocean liner. At first, the young couple is helpless because they've never had to lift a finger in their lives. As the weeks pass, Keaton and McGuire become quite adept at fending for themselves, utilizing the huge facilities of the liner (its steam room, its enormous kitchen) for the simplest and most basic of necessities. An attack by a cannibal tribe requires Keaton to be more resourceful than ever; the build-up to the climactic contretemps between Keaton and the cannibals is almost as side-splitting as the climax itself. While the film is rife with some of Buster Keaton's most elaborate gags, he scores equally well with smaller, more intimate comedy bits, notably his losing battle with a deck chair and his attempt to shuffle a waterlogged deck of cards. Reasoning that the comedy in The Navigator would work best if built upon an utterly serious storyline, Keaton hired actor/director Donald Crisp to handle the "straight" scenes. Alas, as Keaton would later recall, the constitutionally humorless Crisp "turned gagman on us", resulting in miles of wasted footage. Thus, pay no attention to the "official" directorial credits: Buster Keaton alone is responsible for the helming of The Navigator. Joe Schenck's initial 20 grand investment proved sagacious when Navigator ended up as Buster Keaton's most profitable silent feature film. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Buster Keaton, Kathryn McGuire, (more)
A film buff's dream, Spiders is comprised of two episodes from an unfinished silent serial from Fritz Lang. Filled with excitement and adventure, it tells the story of a brave explorer who is questing for the fabulous Incan diamond. To get it though, he must keep ahead of the powerful Spider cult, who want it for their own evil purposes. The episodes were originally titled "The Golden Lake" and "The Diamond Ship." Many of the techniques and production designs Lang experimented with in this aborted series, he later refined in his classic Dr. Mabuse films. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
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