Greydon Clark Movies

In this thriller, an American schoolteacher visits St. Petersburg, Russia and ends up entangled in a deadly plot to steal a valuable artifact. Much of the film was shot on location. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This mundane, predictable psycho-thriller was originally conceived as a sequel of sorts to the 1989 version of Phantom of the Opera, another unsuccessful horror vehicle for Robert Englund. Filmed on location in St. Petersburg, the film stars Englund as the co-director of a prestigious Russian dance academy whose students are systematically murdered by an unknown interloper shortly after the arrival of an American student (Michelle Zeitlin) -- whom Englund perceives as a young version of his former lover, the wheelchair-bound Svetlana. By the time the clueless ingenue figures out who's responsible, half of her classmates have already been drowned, hanged or thrown from various heights. Unfortunately, the entire "mystery" hinges on a laughably transparent attempt at visual deception; it's painfully obvious from the get-go that Englund's relationship with the invalid Svetlana is remarkably similar to that of Norman Bates and dear old Mom -- something the students fail to recognize, even to the bitter end. A few red herrings are batted about, but they serve more to annoy the audience than to convolute the plot. It's hard to tell whether writer/director Greydon Clark (who graced us with the likes of Satan's Cheerleaders) wanted to draw parallels to Dario Argento's Suspiria, but he's definitely out of his league here regardless. The atmospheric locales provide some degree of class, but their somber potential is sadly wasted. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

A mother is plagued with mental problems years after she saw her daughter immolated in a terrible fire. The terror in this horror outing begins shortly after she is released from the mental hospital where she has stayed since the accident. Though the doctors say she is better, the woman is plagued by the apparition of her dying daughter, and trouble ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this exploitation film, a group of violent neo-Nazis invade a small town, causing murder and destruction wherever they go. However, when the skinheads make the mistake of murdering a tough man's girlfriend, he sets out to avenge her death ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide

In this loud teen movie, a motley crew of youths, ranging from the rainbow-haired King Vidiot (Jonathan Gries), to Eugene the king nerd (Leif Green) and a washed-up video freak descend to the usual level of tricks to keep their video arcade from being shut down by a businessman (Joe Don Baker) who believes the games are a threat to the mental health of today's youth. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

The bottom-drawer science fiction cheapie was originally released as The Return. In a dusty New Mexico town, two children and an old man witness the arrival (via poor special effects) of an alien spacecraft. The phenomenon has such a profound effect on the lives of the witnesses that they anxiously await the return of the extraterrestrials--whom, it is suggested, have visited here several times before. When the big-name cast (Jan-Michael Vincent, Cybill Shepherd, Martin Landau, Raymond Burr and Neville Brand) failed to sucker customers into seeing The Return, the film was repackaged as The Alien's Return. If we are indeed visited by aliens someday, one hopes they aren't as dull as the creatures in this sorry little film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this action-packed drama, a beautiful singer decides to put her career on hold when her younger brother, who had a problem with drugs, is severely beaten by a gang of dope dealers. She assembles a group of seven beautiful crime fighters, and they hit the road in their customized van looking for an opportunity to break open the drug ring run by Farrell (Jack Palance) and Burke (Peter Lawford). The inarguably remarkable supporting cast includes Alan Hale Jr., Pat Buttram, Jim Backus, Neville Brand and Arthur Godfrey. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The cheerleaders of Benedict High are a rowdy, randy bunch with little regard for rules, decorum, or anything that gets in the way of a good time with the stud football players they date. The big game against Baker High is coming up, and the intense rivalry between the schools leads to spirited chicken fights on the beach and extensive T.P. sessions. The cheerleaders' chaperone, Ms. Johnson (Jacqueline Cole), tries hard to rally her charges and keep their restless libidos from distracting the star players, but they continually take advantage of her sweet nature and naïveté, leading to high jinks which get some of their boyfriends suspended from the team. However, high school politics will soon be the least of their troubles. Benedict High's creepy janitor, Billy (Jack Kruschen), is a member of a local Satanic group, and he wants revenge against all the kids who ridicule him on campus. He kidnaps the four cheerleaders and Ms. Johnson, then drives them to a remote location to sacrifice and ravage his victims on a Satanic altar. Suddenly overcome by the dark forces of the underworld, Patti (Kerry Sherman) strips naked of her own volition and climbs upon the altar, where she is imbued with a strange power that knocks Billy cold. The girls seek out the nearest law, which turns out to be Sherriff Bubb (John Ireland); he also doubles as the Satanic High Priest of the area. When his wife, Emma (Yvonne DeCarlo), senses the dark power that has invaded Patti, they decide that they have been delivered the perfect virgin sacrifice to their evil Lord. The girls make a hasty escape, but discover that the tiny town they've landed in is a hotbed of Satanism, so they are recaptured and brought once again before the devil's altar for a Black Mass. But which of these sassy, over-sexed girls is the virgin meant for sacrifice? The shocking answer leads to death, destruction, and a whole new way of life for the cheerleaders of Benedict High. ~ Fred Beldin, All Movie Guide

Greydon Clark has mined almost every exploitation genre from horror (Satan's Cheerleaders) to T&A (Joysticks) to lambada (The Forbidden Dance). Here, he turns his attention to blaxploitation, transforming the mainstream comedy Shampoo into a story about a black playboy (John Daniels) who is both a hairdresser and a skilled fighter. Daniels battles gangsters in brutal fight scenes involving chainsaws and pool-cue impalements. If that isn't enough, the requisite sex, torture, and homophobia are brought in as well. Clark's previous genre foray, The Bad Bunch, had been released to several theaters as Nigger Lover, which should give some clue as to the mentality at work. The director returned to racial themes in 1989 with Skinheads: The Second Coming of Hate. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

This early '70s effort from veteran exploitation director Greydon Clark attempts to create a more socially conscious variation on the blaxploitation genre, but devotes most of its time to thrills of the most lurid variety. The story begins with Jim (director and co-writer Clark), a liberal-minded white Vietnam vet witnessing the death of a black soldier. He returns home and attempts to deliver the fallen soldier's posthumous Purple Heart to the soldier's family. In the process, he angers Makimba(Tom) (Tom Johnigarn), an angry militant who was the soldier's brother. Jim and Makimba's paths continue to cross as the two deal with their problems: Jim struggles to decide whether he should settle down with the prim and proper Nancy (Jacqueline Cole) or live with the free-spirited Bobbie, and Makimba develops an ever-growing anger towards white society as he is hounded by racist white cops, Lt. Stans (Aldo Ray) and Sgt. Berry (Jock Mahoney). Tom is finally driven over the brink and takes action, resulting in a tragedy that changes both men's lives forever. Despite the serious nature of the story line, the film that resulted is an exploitative affair that takes every opportunity to titillate the audience with plenty of sex and violence. As a result, its attempts at social consciousness went ignored, but its salacious moments went over well with the drive-in crowd. Director Greydon Clark later revisited the blaxploitation genre with the even more exploitative Black Shampoo. ~ Donald Guarisco, All Movie Guide

Bikers, Nazis, Mafiosi, and the FBI all clash in this wild and wooly exploitation picture from director Al Adamson. Mark Adams (John Gabriel) is an FBI agent who has been assigned to infiltrate an organized crime ring that has obtained a set of printing plates that will allow them to produce nearly perfect counterfeit 20-dollar bills. The plates were made in Germany during World War II, and were discovered by a radical right-wing group hoping to restore the Nazi Party to power. The American gangsters are in cahoots with a group of wealthy American neo-Nazis sympathetic to the new German cause, led by fugitive war criminal Count von Delberg (Kent Taylor); the count has in turn recruited a vicious motorcycle gang, the Bloody Devils, to do his dirty work. Also featuring Broderick Crawford, John Carradine, and Col. Harland Sanders (the latter in a shameless plug for Kentucky Fried Chicken), Hell's Bloody Devils was produced under the titles The Fakers and Operation M as a straightforward espionage thriller; when distributors balked at the finished product, Al Adamson and producer Samuel M. Sherman added the biker subplot, and gave the product a more exploitive title. Shorn of the motorcycle gang footage, the film was also released as Smashing the Crime Syndicate. Nelson Riddle co-wrote the film's theme song, and Laszlo Kovacs and Gary Graver were among the cameramen. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide