Darwin Joston Movies
- 1982
- PG
In this horror outing, a California archaeologist has obtained the sarcophagus of King Tutankhamen and has taken it to his lab to be x-rayed. Unfortunately, the radiation levels he uses are too high and something begins to happen inside the coffin. Suddenly the mummy within storms out. Inside all the wrappings is an alien creature, the one who killed the king. He begins searching for the crystals he needs to return to his home planet. Frustrated, he begins a killing spree. Unlike movie mummies of old, this fellow is quite agile and can easily capture his human prey. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ben Murphy, Nina Axelrod, (more)
- 1980
- PG
Comedy falls as flat as a blowout in this film by Joseph Sargent about a down-to-earth trucker (Robert Blake) and the rich and looney witch (Dyan Cannon) he is forced to take on a haul from New York to L.A. Madie (Cannon) is running away from her money-grubbing husband who is conniving to get the most inexpensive divorce he can. Charlie (Blake) the trucker is under pressure from a ruthless creditor and is in desperate need of cash. As the mismatched duo continues in a stressful journey across country, sparks fly but fail to ignite much of anything along the way. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Dyan Cannon, Robert Blake, (more)
Following the phenomenal box-office success of his seminal horror classic Halloween, director John Carpenter teamed up with producer Debra Hill for a second independent horror project, this time in the mode of an old-fashioned ghost story. The end result was The Fog, a spooky romp about a dark secret that returns to haunt the Pacific fishing community of Antonio Bay on the 100th anniversary of the town's charter. Carpenter sets the mood in the film's prologue, which features grizzled old sea salt Mr. Machen (John Houseman) spinning ghost stories for a group of local children. For his final tale, he recounts the legend of the Elizabeth Dane -- a ship which crashed 100 years ago against the very rocks upon which the children are sitting. Meanwhile, as the clock strikes midnight on the fateful anniversary of that disaster, eerie phenomena begin to plague the town as a dense fog bank creeps toward the bay. Seeming to appear from nowhere and emitting a ghostly glow, the fog surrounds a small trawler filled with drunken fishermen, who glimpse the vague outline of a decrepit sailing vessel before being brutally killed by shadowy figures brandishing hooks and swords. That morning, news of their disappearance is relayed to the town by Stevie Wayne (Adrienne Barbeau), owner and operator of the local radio station. The news reaches the wife of one of the fishermen, city councilwoman Kathy Williams (Janet Leigh) and local boy Nick Castle (Tom Atkins), who takes a trip out to the abandoned boat to investigate, accompanied by teenage drifter Elizabeth Solley (Jamie Lee Curtis). As the day progresses, a grim series of events paints a decidedly unpleasant picture of Antonio Bay's founders, and foreshadows the ghostly retribution that awaits the town's present-day residents. When Mrs. Williams visits local priest Fr. Malone (Hal Holbrook) about a benediction for that night's centennial ceremony, he relates a ghastly tale discovered in his grandfather's journal, which details the town fathers' decision to murder a group of lepers who had planned to build a commune outside of Antonio Bay. Just as the night's proceedings are haunted by the horrors of the past, the ghosts of the murdered dead have returned to seek symbolic revenge by claiming the lives of six townspeople, arriving amid the ominous fog bank which has completely engulfed Antonio Bay. Carpenter reportedly shot and inserted additional gory scenes after the original 'PG' cut failed to impress preview audiences. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi
- Starring:
- Adrienne Barbeau, Hal Holbrook, (more)
Filmed intermittently over the course of a five-year period, David Lynch's radical feature debut stars Jack Nance as Henry Spencer, a man living in an unnamed industrial wasteland. Upon learning that a past romance has resulted in an impending pregnancy, Henry agrees to wed mother-to-be Mary (Charlotte Stewart) and moves her into his tiny, squalid flat. Their baby is born hideously mutated, a strange, reptilian creature whose piercing cries never cease. Mary soon flees in horror and disgust, leaving Henry to fall prey to the seduction of the girl across the hall (Judith Anna Roberts). An intensely visceral nightmare, Eraserhead marches to the beat of its own slow, surreal rhythm: Henry's world is a cancerous dreamscape, a place where sins manifest themselves as bizarre creatures and worlds exist within worlds. Interpreting the film along the lines of Lynch's claims that it's the product of his own fears of fatherhood may make Eraserhead easier to digest on a narrative level, if need be. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jack Nance, Charlotte Stewart, (more)
A herd of chemically altered rattlesnakes become fearsome killers in this made-for-TV chiller. The tale is set in the Mojave Desert and centers upon Sam Parkinson, a noted zoologist, who has come to investigate a series of strange deaths that began with two dead children found near their parents' campsites. Sam is accompanied by Ann, a photographer who make an appalling discovery. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Elizabeth Guadalupe Chauvet, Sam Chew, (more)
Cops, secretaries, and prisoners stuck in a soon-to-be-shuttered L.A. police station fight off a horde of murderous gang members in director John Carpenter's homage to Howard Hawks. When police officer Bishop (Austin Stoker) is left in charge of Precinct 13 on the last day it's open, he isn't prepared for the onslaught of a murderous street gang who have come into the possession of an enormous arsenal of guns. Finding himself trapped in the precinct with a pair of secretaries (Laurie Zimmer and Nancy Loomis), a few civilians and a handful of prisoners, Bishop is unable to call for help because the phones have already been disconnected and the precinct is in a run-down, out-of-the-way neighborhood. Holding out for a rescue, he and his fellow prisoners band together to barricade themselves in and hold the bandits at bay. But as the casualties mount and the supplies run low, they must choose between a daring escape attempt, a fiery offensive, or certain death. The sophomore feature from auteur-in-the-making John Carpenter, Assault on Precinct 13 reunited the director with Douglas H. Knapp, his cinematographer on 1974's Dark Star. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi
- Starring:
- Austin Stoker, Darwin Joston, (more)
- 1974
Policewoman Fran Belding (Elizabeth Baur) has a new man in her life: Jim Marshall (Gary Lockwood), a police detective who is long on charm but dangerously short on temper. Marshall's well-known propensity for violence catches up with him when he is suspected of two murders. Ironside (Raymond Burr) wants to know if Marshall's current dilemma is linked to a case he once pursued with his former partner--a private detective who is no saint himself. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1971
Ex-convict Gordy Brokaw (Earl Holliman), a demolitions expert, is being strongarmed into helping a gang of revolutionaries steal a huge cache of dynamite and assemble a time bomb. To bind the bargain, the rebels kidnap Gordy's young son (Vincent Van Patten). Though Ironside (Raymond Burr) is able to rescue the boy, he must still locate the explosives--and defuse them himself--before it is too late! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1970
Ironside(Raymond Burr) is certain that John Walala (Ned Romero), a Native American silversmith who was recently paroled on a theft charge, is not guilty of a jewel robbery. Unfortunately, the evidence indicates that the heist could only have been pulled off by Walala--or at the very least, someone who is very close to him. Unless Ironside can prove Walala's innocence, a new police rehabilitation program may be junked before it can even get under way. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1969
- R
This extra-violent Civil War melodrama was also released as Cain's Way and The Blood Seekers. Scott Brady plays a homesteader whose biracial family is butchered by Confederate renegades. Teaming up with bounty hunter-cum-preacher John Carradine, Brady goes after the men responsible. After dispatching most of the killers in particularly gruesome fashion, Brady sets his sights on the renegade leader, Robert Dix. Why is it that the hero never kills the leader at the outset, but always knocks off the flunkeys first? Evidently aiming at surrealism, director Kent Osborne juxtaposes Brady's campaign of slaughter is intercut with scenes of a modern-day motorcycle gang going on a real-life rampage. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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