July Quick Picks and Pans

 

Brewster McCloud (1971) But Cort stars in the title role, as an odd, reclusive young man who lives in the basement of the Houston Astrodome, and dreams of flying like a bird. Sally Kellerman is Brewster’s guardian angel Louise, with wings tattooed on her back. Shelley Duvall (in her first film role) plays Suzanne, an eccentric young woman who befriends Brewster. The film boasts several bizarre supporting performances, including Margaret Hamilton as Daphne Heap, a tone-deaf socialite who attempts to sing the National Anthem (she does a parody of her Wicked Witch character). Stacy Keach also appears as a 99-year-old wealthy curmudgeon, and the story is told by Rene Auberjonois as the Lecturer, a college professor with a tenuous grip on his sanity. Amidst the mayhem, the police search for a serial killer who anoints his victims with bird poop. Director Robert Altman keeps a lot of threads going in this whimsical comedy/drama that almost defies description. It wasn’t a hit with critics or audiences, but I enjoyed its quirky vibe. 

Rating: ***½. Available on Blu-ray and DVD

Amuck! (1972) Barbara Bouchet stars as Greta, a young woman searching for her missing friend Sally (Patrizia Viotti), in this sexually charged giallo from writer/director Silvio Amadio. Greta takes a secretary job with her friend’s last-known employer, a morally ambiguous writer, played by Farley Granger. His wife Eleanora (Rosalba Neri) takes an interest in Greta, with less than honorable intentions. The plot has some nice twists and turns as the writer and his wife constantly gaslight Greta as she approaches the truth. This well-paced thriller is full of enough red herrings to keep you guessing (not to mention Bouchet and Neri are easy on the eyes). 

Rating: ***½. Available on Blu-ray (Region B), DVD (Region 2), and Tubi

Death Line (aka: Raw Meat) (1972) Donald Pleasence plays Inspector Calhoun, a sarcastic, world-weary police detective investigating a missing high-ranking government official. His investigation leads him to a closed-off section of the London Underground which was the site of a late-1800s construction disaster. We learn the survivors, isolated from the surface world, developed their own society, along with a taste for human flesh. Christopher Lee has a short but memorable cameo as a haughty MI5 agent, but the real draw is Pleasence, who chews the scenery every chance he gets. The film is a bit too leisurely paced for its own good, but the subterranean scenes are appropriately claustrophobic and the gory makeup effects are very well done. 

Rating: ***. Available on Blu-ray, DVD, Prime Video 

 Challenge the Devil (1963) The only devilish challenge is trying to stay awake while watching this movie. Slow to start, the film doesn’t really dive into the main story until 20 minutes have elapsed. The rest of the movie is told in flashback by a monk who, in his earlier days, hung out with a bad crowd. The young delinquents stumble into what seems like an abandoned castle, only to meet its owner (Christopher Lee), an elderly man. They become trapped in his castle with no discernable escape. Top-billed Lee is barely on screen, the characters are uniformly unlikeable, and the film moves at a sloth-like pace. Everyone but die-hard Christopher Lee fans should probably skip it. 

Rating: **. Available on Blu-ray (included in Severin’s The Eurocrypt of Christopher Lee Collection), DVD (out of print), Tubi and Midnight Pulp 

 

Death Warmed Up (1984) Michael (Micheal Tucker) becomes the unwitting participant in a medical mind-control experiment, resulting in him killing his parents. Seven years later, he’s released from prison and out for revenge against the doctor (Gary Day) who altered his brain chemistry. He and his friends face an army of deadly mutants in the secret island compound run by the doctor. Most of the film consists of the characters running around dark corridors, while spewing various bodily substances. It’s a confusing experience with paper-thin characters and very little payoff. Don’t bother. 

Rating: *½ . Available on Blu-ray, DVD and Tubi