(1971)
Dir - Lee Madden
Overall: MEH
Director Lee Maden's first attempt at horror was the low-rent mishmash The Night God Screamed which is broken up into two distinct halves that each channel a different sub-genre. The first one focuses on an unbearably obnoxious and scenery-chewing hippie messiah that eventually leads his Jesus-loving Manson cult to murder a local reverend who recently purchased a giant wooden cross for his congregation. After that arc is presumably wrapped up, the story follows the recently-murdered reverend's wife, (Golden Age actor Jeanne Crain), as she oddly babysits a houseful of teenagers played by twenty-somethings, at which point the movie switches gears to a typical home invasion thriller. It is a daft paring on paper and makes for one on screen as well, though the latter half has a creepy, white-knuckled intensity to it that is at least partially effective. Of course they also throw a weak twist in at the very end that is more pointless than gasp-worthy, but the biggest issue besides the sluggish pacing are the early scenes involving Michael Sugich doing everything in his power to make the audience want to punch his pretentious, "groovy ya dig?" cult leader smack in his mouth.
(1974)
Dir - Alan Gadney
Overall:As pretentious and incomprehensible as any art film from the era, Moonchild is a frustrating, meandering work that is notably for the small handful of recognizable faces present. The only full-length from writer/director Alan Gadney, the movie began three years before it was finished as a thesis project while he was studying at the University of Southern California. For whatever reason John Carradine, Victor Buono, Janet Landgard, Pat Renella, and William Challee all got on board which makes it a curiosity to see such professional thespians in something so unapologetically impenetrable and showy. The editing is nausea-inducing as countless flashbacks/flash-forwards/whatevers are inter-cut in a subliminal way and the film frequently jumps ahead to the next scene while the previous one is still wrapping up. One needs to read a plot synopsis to have any inkling as to what is going on, with every character endlessly prattling on about the nature of life, death, and sin as they are all aggressively pulling Mark Travis' protagonist in conflicting directions. Still, there are stylistic flourishes that are enticing and the movie's spell, (while grating), is also singular enough to admire.
(1977)
Dir - Jerry Thorpe
Overall: MEH
Occasionally creepy yet poorly plotted, The Possessed was one of countless films from the 1970s to take clear thematic inspiration from the decade's flagship The Exorcist. A television movie that originally aired on NBC mere weeks before Star Wars was released, it is notable for featuring Harrison Ford in a supporting role as a college professor. Elsewhere, James Farentino plays the required priest who has lost his faith, though his arc is given a curious tweak as he returns from the grave as penance for his alcoholic nature and must rid the world of demonic evil. As one would guess, there is a person who gets overcome by a malevolent entity, but it is an older woman instead of a teenage girl, even though the story takes place at a college campus. The details are murky at best, with spontaneous fires, unnecessary romantic affairs, and school politics all clamoring for space in what is essentially just another good vs evil showdown. Director Jerry Thorpe already had a prolific career mostly in TV at this point and would continue to do so, bringing an agreeable sense of pacing to the proceedings, as well as letting certain moments calmly simmer to enhance their sinister nature. The results are mediocre and not without their flaws, but supernatural horror and/or Ford fans may find it of interest.
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