(1973)
Dir - Guerdon Trueblood
Overall: MEH
Equipped with a bafflingly uneven tone and boatleads of unpleasantness, the debut and only theatrically released film from Costa Rican-born Guerdon Trueblood, The Candy Snatchers plays out like a goofier The Last House on the Left in some respects, though thankfully not as frustratingly inept. Inspired by the 1968 kidnapping of Barbara Jane Mackle, the film has awful characters who with very few exceptions, (namely the title victim played by Susan Sennett and one of the most off-putting child actors of all time in Christopher Trueblood), exhibit zero redeemable qualities whatsoever. Even the comparatively "benevolent" kidnapper played by Vince Martorano turns out to be a rapist and murderer with one of his most vile acts coming right after he delivers a sympathetic monologue that misleads the audience into thinking that he is merely the bad guy with a heart of gold. In these instances, Trueblood's manner of showing conflicting characteristics is an interesting one, which may or not be purposely in conjunction with the wacky soundtrack that inner cuts several disturbing scenarios with funk guitar and soft rock songs. The movie is still too uncomfortably miserable to properly recommend, but it certainly has an off-kilter feel that makes it somewhat unique amongst straight torture porn precursor/exploitation movies.
(1977)
Dir - James Shea
Overall: MEH
An odd mix of Dark Star-worthy production values and top-notch stop-motion effects, Planet of Dinosaurs is a deliciously 70s giant monster throwback that recalls such films from the 50s and 60s. As the only directorial effort from James Shea, he struggles with the bare bones story that merely amounts to "a bunch of bad actors in bad costumes roaming around California's Vasquez Rocks landscape until prehistoric dinosaurs interrupt them". The characters never stop arguing with each other in their brightly colored space pajamas and the largely no-name cast embarrasses themselves in such thankless roles, which is a shame since most of the screen time is spent with them. Mind-numbingly boring and bordering on unwatchable in this respect, at least the care was taken to make those prehistoric dinosaurs look better than they have any business looking for such crap-budgeted junk. While the stop-motion creatures do not interact with anyone on screen in a convincing manner, they are still articulate and detailed, so for forgiving viewers, their sporadic appearances may provide enough excitement to snap us out of the tedious spell that the rest of the film casts.
(1979)
Dir - Dusty Nelson
Overall: MEH
The low-rent Effects, (The Manipulator), is a collaborative effort between George A. Romero alumni Dusty Nelson, Pasquale Buba, and John Harrison, with both Tom Savini and Joseph Pilato on board to round out the familiar faces. Clearly a DIY project made on a minimalist budget, the story is a meta commentary of sorts on voyeurism towards violence as it concerns an independent film crew making a horror movie with the question being eventually raised as to who exactly is making a movie about who. An interesting enough premise to start from, yet unfortunately the half-baked script never goes anywhere interesting with the vague concepts that it brings up. Being a B-movie about B-movies, some of its amateur-hour aesthetics are charming as the crew are clearly trying to make the most of what they got while utilizing it within a story that is perfectly suitable for the meager production values. Still, the whole thing frequently becomes a slog with loose, improvisational dialog sequences taking up a predominant amount of the run time. Even with Savini's presence on and behind the screen to supply the gore effects, such sequences are few and far between. Day of the Dead fans may get a kick of of Pilato though in a very different, straight-man role without any of his ranting and raving scenery chewing anywhere to be found.
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