'What Became of Jack And Jill' (1972) Dir. Bill Bain.

This unjustly neglected Amicus horror gem remains a deliciously twisted tale of opportunistic Octogenarian offing, and diabolical delinquency. Duplicitous, ardently inheritance-coveting, Johnnie Tallent (Paul Nicolas) and his avidly callous conspirator, Jill Standish (Vanessa Howard) plan and evilly execute the cruel death of Johnnie's loving Gran, Alice Tallent (Mona Washbourne). Bill Bain's dark, wickedly entertaining psychodrama is enlivened by compelling performances, with a mesmerisingly malevolent turn from the nubile, electrifyingly libidinous strumpet, Vanessa 'Girly' Howard.

The fine filmmaking by director, Bain making the most of notable writer, Roger 'The Avenger's Marshall's blackened, bracingly nihilistic text. The dour suburban milieu of loneliness and seething discontent is palpable. Paul Nicholas plays the ambivalent, coldly scheming, Johnnie with remarkable fluency, utilizing subtler shades suggesting, perhaps, at one time, he may actually have had some genuine affection for his poor Gran. While lurid, and undeniably exploitative in nature, there's an innate melancholy, a dark pathos, redolent of the glumly melodramatic, socially conscious kitchen sink doom-fests of the mid to late 60s. A skewed 70s Brit-Horror delight, 'What Became of Jack And Jill' ranks highly in the pantheon of terror-tweaked 70s shock, and the lack of a spiffo HD restoration is not only conspicuous, but downright irritating!

 

 

'The Autobiography of a Flea' (1976) Dir. Sharon McKnight.

Awesome well-dressed vintage smut exposing the increasingly malign lusts of an evilly libidinous priest, and his profane quest to corrupt his perky, eminently corruptible nubile prey. Good filthy fleshly fun, with a lively, tounge-lashingly loquacious text to match the zesty shunt! - Weirdlingwolf.

 

 

 

 

 

 

'The Corruption of Chris Miller' (1973) - J.A. Bardem.

This corrupted Giallo remains one of my absolute favourite fleshly fabulous Euro-cult horrors! 'The Corruption of Chris Miller' is positively drenched in skeevey Hitchcockian vibes! The performances are excellent, and able director, Bardem frequently creates a steamy, thrillingly skewed atmosphere of psychological dread! Beautiful to look at, this is sleazy, sinister, and palpably erotic, what more could any splendidly degenerated film freak ask for? From the moment the itinerant, libidinously cocksure, Barney Webster (Barry Stokes) at the isolated domicile, the troubled women's bourgeois incivility is additionally stirred to a maelstrom of macabre incident! On a more personal note, I still love the garishly colourful, warmly fuzzy look of my ancient DVD-R bootleg, its lurid tonality seems to increase the scintillatingly scurrilous shenanigans!

 

 

  

'The Order' (2001) - Sheldon Lettich. 

The brawny Belgian butt-kicker gets himself some of that old time religion in, Sheldon Lettich's enjoyably high-spirited action comedy gem 'The Order'. Trading successfully on, Van Damme's clownish charisma and prodigious athleticism, this jocular, exciting adventure finds roguish cat burglar, Rudy (JCVD) drawn dangerously into a thrilling middle eastern mystery wherein an obscure religious cult, duplicitously headed by the maniacally messianic, Cyrus (Brian Thompson), who evilly plans a despicable act of theological terror that would initiate cataclysmic reprisals!

Strikingly set in picturesque, sun-baked Israel, enlivened with a number of dazzling set-pieces, it's a consistently fun ride watching a clearly energized, JCVD boisterously get his, Jackie Chan/Indiana Jones on! His rapscallion, Rudy, heroically high-kicks his wacky way across vertiginous rooftops, and tears through the bustling backstreets of Jerusalem until the explosive climax within the ancient storied caves below this holiest of cities. Alongside the engagingly upbeat tone, Pino Donaggio's fine score, and blazingly kinetic action, 'The Order' has a terrific cast, including a lovely extended cameo by, Charlton Heston, which increases the amicable Saturday matinée appeal of, Sheldon Lettich's zesty theological actioner.