Trailer of the Week: Attack of the Beast Creatures (1985)

Possibly my favorite Connecticut horror film about killer troll dolls. Here's a fan-made trailer, and some clips.

Trailer of the Week: Violent Midnight (Psychomania, 1963)

Richard Hilliard is the credited director, although Connecticut impresario Del Tenney was behind the camera much of the time. Tenney's debut feature included a shocking amount of blood and nudity for the period.


DVD distributor Dark Sky Films disabled the embed feature when they posted the promotional clip, but you can view it here.

Trailer of the Week: Curse of the Living Corpse (1964)

I don't know if I'd call it "more terrifying than Frankenstein," but Del Tenney's Curse of the Living Corpse served as a much more low-key co-feature than the director's other film from that year, Horror of Party Beach.

Trailer of the Week: Cannibal Campout (1988)

Another Jon McBride pic from Connecticut with plenty of gore and that lovely, shot-on-video sheen. I've posted two trailers below. One is the re-release trailer for the Camp DVD release; the other appears to be original.

Trailer of the Week: Woodchipper Massacre (1989)

 Shot on video gore from Connecticut. Take that, Fargo.

BoxOffice, June 11, 1973

Two trade ads from the industry rag, 40 years ago.

Summer of Blood: A Look Back at 1963, Part 1

This summer will mark the 50th anniversary of H.G. Lewis' groundbreaking gore film Blood Feast. I'll be posting a number of trade press items about the film from that period over the next few months, leading up to the "official" anniversary date in July. In the meantime, I thought I'd post some other items related to regional horror film production in 1963 as well.

It was that year, for example, that a number of tax incentives went into effect that helped spur independent film production in general (and regional film production specifically), and you can see a steady increase in indie film output from that year forward until the tax breaks were eliminated in the 1980s. 1963 also marked the debut of key early works from the likes of Larry Buchanan, William Grefe, Bill Rebane, and other regional horror stalwarts.

Below I've gathered a few items from BoxOffice magazine's May 1963 issues that are related to some of those filmmakers. To put things in context, in 1963 Hollywood was facing declining attendance numbers as television gained a greater foothold in American households. Films deemed too violent or racy were still subject to bans from local censor boards and attacks from women's groups and the Catholic Legion of Decency. Many theaters (particularly in the South) were still segregated. Blood Feast arrived at a time when the American horror market was dominated by low-rent Psycho knock-offs and Roger Corman's Poe series, but far from Hollywood a new group of filmmakers was starting to emerge that would take the genre in new, and often exceedingly odd, directions.

Invasion of the What?

The May 13, 1963 edition of BoxOffice included this nugget, which refers to two early Del Tenney features (Invasion of the Zombies was actually the working title of Horror of Party Beach). The same issue indicated that Tenney's partner, Alan Iselin, was expanding his theater chain, snapping up drive-ins in Florida and New York.

New Company Turns Out Two Horror Attractions

NEW YORK -- A new company, Iseling-Tenny Productions, has been in existence about four months and has turned out two feature films, "The Curse of the Living Corpse" and "Invasion of the Zombies" at Stamford, Conn.

The company is headed by Alan V. Iselin, an upstate New York and Florida theatre owner, and Del Tenney, a former stage and television actor, who serves as producer-director.

Complete merchandising manuals rather than the usual press books will be prepared for each picture and combination, Iselin said.

Ted Spiegel, former advertising-publicity director for Kingsley International Pictures and for Union Film Distributors, has been named vice-president in charge of advertising, publicity and merchandising for the new company.

Approximately two pictures a year are planned by Iselin and Tenney. In preparation are "Airlines Stewardesses" and "Ski Weekend."

Larry Buchanan Makes a Splash

1963 was the year of PT 109, Cleopatra, Bye Bye Birdie, The Great Escape, The Birds, How the West Was Won, and From Russia With Love. But one of the films nabbing BoxOffice headlines (and raking in a lot of cash) was Larry Buchanan's controversial Free, White and 21. The film, distributed by American International Pictures, was a courtroom drama (based on a true story) about a black man accused of raping a white woman, and was successful enough to establish an ongoing relationship between Buchanan and AIP that eventually resulted in the production of a slough of cheap made-for-TV monster movies.

A key part of the promotion of the film involved providing paper ballots to audience members so that they could serve as an ad hoc jury. Part of the film's ad campaign in Boston included call-in voting. The number in the Boston advertisements led to an answering service that was soon swamped with calls. According to BoxOffice May 20 issue:

"So great was the curiosity that the Copley exchagne in downtown Boston was inoperative due to the preponderance of the calls. At one time the load was so great that the telephone company had to change the downtown office exchange to a 'Devonshire' number.

"A count revealed 5,572 calls on one day, a record for such a device ... the machines broke down twice and had to be repaired due to the curiosity aroused by the subway posters and billboard posters."

A Romantic Adventure

BoxOffice June 3, 1963

Flamingo Productions Has First Picture Under Way

MIAMI -- A new motion picture company has been formed here under the name of "Flamingo Productions, Inc.," with Irwin and Herb Myers as producers. The two brothers have been in the construction and real estate development business here.

"Miami Rendevous," a romantic adventure, will be their first picture, and shooting has started on locations in Miami and Miami Beach. It will be a full-length feature in color, with Hal Carrington as camerman. 

Gloria Izzo is handling coordination and casting and the lead roles will be announced soon. An all-Miami cast is being assembled.

As far as I can tell, this film was released as Passion Holiday, and featured Christy Foushee (a.k.a. Blood Feast's Toni Calvert), Linda Hall, Yanka Mann (who appeared in several Florida-lensed horror films), and Stella Palma in the cast.

Also in the news on June 3:

Producer-director Bill Rebane, with a revised script, is trying to get police cooperation from superintendent O.W. Wilson in shooting Loop scenes for his sciece fiction movie, "Terror at Half Day." Hollywood producer Doc Stanford is Rebane's new partner.

The June 3, 1963 issue also lists Carnival of Souls as a current release from Herts-Lion International, even though that film was already a year old at the time.

Trailer of the Week: Attack of the Beast Creatures (1985)

 Boy, it's getting harder and harder to find actual trailers for some of these films. Here are some highlights, instead, from Attack of the Beast Creatures.

Trailer of the Week: Horror of Party Beach (1964)

Terror on the beaches of Connecticut, courtesy of Del Tenney.

Trailer of the Week: Last House on the Left (1972)

To avoid fainting...

Regional Horror Hit Parade: Track 2

Track 2 of our "greatest hits" package of regional horror music is a classic -- the Del-Aires performing "Zombie Stomp" in Del Tenney's Horror of Party Beach. The beaches of Connecticut were never as swingin' as they are here.

Trailer of the Week: Let's Scare Jessica to Death (1971)

One of my faves: John D. Hancock's creepy Let's Scare Jessica to Death.

Trailer of the Week: Deadtime Stories (1986)

Deadtime Stories, under it's alternate title, Freaky Fairytales. Whither thee, Scott Valentine?

The Regional Horror Film That Wasn't

Just in case you were wondering, there is a lot more to me than just my deranged obsession with low-budget regional horror films. Case in point: my obsession with the low-budget California horror film The Creeping Terror (1964).

Considered by some to be the worst movie ever made, The Creeping Terror was produced and directed by former Bridgeport, Connecticut, resident Arthur White, a.k.a. Arthur Nelson, a.k.a. Bradley Nichols, a.k.a. Vic Savage, an actor/writer/grifter/alcoholic/philanderer whose life story is far stranger than anything he ever managed to capture on film.

Rather than get bogged down in the details, you can read more about him in this lengthy thread over at the Classic Horror Film Board. He's also the subject of a new documentary, now in pre-production, from busy filmmaker Pete Schuermann. You can follow the progress of the project over on his new Web site, www.creepfilm.com.

The article below was published just after White released his first film, the J.D. flick Street Fighter. While it's unlikely that the horror film project he announced at the time was ever going to be made (White was either looking for publicity or money or both), White was at least thinking about doing a genre film, so perhaps the seeds of The Creeing Terror were sewn from this remnants of this phantom film.

Within a year, White would abandon his wife and children and go on the lam with his teenage girlfriend. It would take another three years and several arrests before he was able to scam enough money to launch another movie project.

From The Bridgeport Sunday Herald, Oct. 25, 1959

Monroe Locale of Horror Film by Vic Savage

Calm, suburban Monroe has become a Connecticut movieland with the filming of a North Star Production science-fiction horror picture, "The Beast" under the direction of 26-year-old Vic Savage.

The North Star banner, owned by Savage and his brother John, both Bridgeporters, has already turned out "Street Fighter," shot in Southern California, currently on national lease through Joseph Brenner Associates.

Savage, who serves the triple role of producer-director-actor in the latest effort, chose the rolling Monroe hills because of the availability of certain local players whom the Savage's have known since childhood.

Only a half year ago, backed by local and West Coast money, North Star Productions became a reality and activity on "Street Fighter," the maiden effort, was begun. Soon after the movie premiered, Savage was swinging into motion on plans for the current production.

John Savage was cast in the lead role with the femme top billing going to Barbara Young. The script was written by Vic Savage, who took on the added tasks of directing and producing.

Savage, educated in Bridgeport public schools, migrated to California six years ago to be near the subject of his childhood dreams, motion pictures. He's lived on the Coast since studying and learning the mechanics and intricacies of making film.

He admits that in film making, as in other business fields, there's little substitute for experience and know how and begin close to the pros is the best place to be situated.

Getting set up has been one problem the new company has been faced with in its freshman stages. Another which confronts the company is breaking the exclusive inner circle of movie-making big time.

Savage says "Street Fighter" has already been screened in New York for people interested in marketing the film overseas. In addition, there have been inquiries from top movie companies in New York and Los Angeles on commitments for "The Beast."

The latter should be ready for print and distribution within a few months -- and Savage has plans to plunge into some topical American scene category films as North Star's next endeavor.

Savage has been encouraged with the box office showing in New York and advocates that the movie industry, providing sound family entertainment, can hold its own against the threat of television.

It's a rebuttal against the advice handed out by some entertainment experts that TV offers the only future for young people in the show business field.