(1980)
Dir - Greydon Clark
Overall: MEH
While it has some less than enduring production attributes, Without Warning, (It Came Without Warning), is at least better than the drive-in B-movies of the 1950s and 60s that it shares a kinship with. Director Greydon Clark made a career either in front of or behind the lens on low budget fare such as this and for the most part, he keeps up an adequate pace for the material here; material which is certainly on paper. Veterans Jack Palance, Martin Landau, and Cameron Mitchell in an opening cameo bring some credibility to the proceedings, with the former two hamming it up appropriately. Kevin Peter Hall plays the malicious, man-hunting alien seven years before he would do the same in the far superior Predator, yet his on-screen appearances amount to a scant few seconds and only within the last ten minutes. Worse yet, the bargain bin costume that he wears looks embarrassing and would even appear laughable on an early Doctor Who serial. It certainly does not fit the more atmospheric tone that Clark is going for nor the themes of PTSD psychosis that Landau's character suffers from.
(1985)
Dir - Christopher Lewis
Overall: WOOF
The debut Blood Cult from Christopher Lewis is a typically sluggish and embarrassing piece of SOV crap, one that was allegedly filmed over nine days in Tulsa, Oklahoma with two Betacam cameras. It certainly looks it, but credit where it is due; Lewis goes for cinematic mood setting despite his lack of proper movie-making equipment, an acceptable script, or actors who either look or perform like they belong in front of any screen. Regional, no budget horror films can usually only afford local thespians, so the cast of schlubs here fit the bill accordingly, regularly fumbling their lines and possessing all of the charisma of a high school janitor who is on the spectrum. Narratively, it clumsily fuses slasher motifs with Satanic cult ones, keeping the dialog asinine along the way with characters repeating slight variations of the same sentences over and over again and particularly abusing the word "sacrifice". There is no sense of pacing to anything going on here, feeling like a fifteen minute idea that is stretched out to an hour and a half. Still, the crawl to the finish line is also peppered with atmospheric lighting, fog, slow motion, and some, (possibly accidental), expressive camerawork on occasion, for what it is worth.
(1989)
Dir - Daniel Taplitz
Overall: MEH
Not to be confused with the other horror comedy of the same name that was also released in 1989 except put a space in between its two words, THIS Nigthlife is a fish-out-of-water vampire romp that was shot in Mexico and premiered on the USA network. Ben Cross appears as a member of the undead for the first time, predating his turn as Barnabas Collins in NBC's Dark Shadows reboot from two years later. The actor does a fine job hamming it up as a character who is practically Dracula, spewing cliched and superior justifications for his blood-drinking by way of murder ways, all while his reluctant love interest in Maryam d'Abo falls for a Jewish doctor that is able to treat her vampirism by way of blood transfusions because yay 20th century medicine! Just like every tale of the undead, the rules are adjusted to adhere what the plot needs to happen, but the loose-goosed nature of the specifics fits such lighthearted goofiness just fine. Because this was an American television production with commercial breaks and all, there is no gore or nudity so exploitation fans will need to adjust their expectations accordingly, but the cast seem to be having fun with the material at least and director Daniel Taplitz knows how to keep the tone in check.
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