(1974)
Dir - Richard Quine
Overall: MEH
Though it boasts some decent performances and has an intense finale, W, (I Want Her Dead, W Is the Mark of Death), ends up being a poorly plotted and poorly paced psychological thriller. Serving as the second leading role for British model-turned-actor Twiggy, it has a premise involving a psychotic ex-husband terrorizing her and her new husband at their beach house; a premise that is loaded with logical inconsistencies. The couple gets tormented on a regular basis and in increasingly intense fashion, yet never once do they think to call the police. Instead, a no-nonsense private investigator just suspiciously shows up at their property and after only being cautious of him for about twenty-four hours, they decide to utilize his shady services which only make him look more dubious in intent. Once the bad guy finally makes an appearance, he only does so because Gerald Di Pego and James Kelley's script has jumped through enough far-fetched hoops to get him there. With idiotic character behavior and "Ummm...I don't think it works that way" narrative contrivances top-to-bottom, it would be laughably inept if not for the straight-faced presentation. Dirk Benedict turns in a genuinely disturbing performance as the disgruntled stalker and though Twiggy's character is equipped with the usual feeble-willed hysterical woman motifs, she at least makes for a convincing victim.
(1976)
Dir - Michael Pataki
Overall: MEH
Character actor Michael Pataki got behind the lens for the first time on Mansion of the Doomed, (The Terror of Dr. Chaney, Massacre Mansion, Eyes, Eyes of Dr. Chaney, House of Blood), which doubles as Charles Band's second production job. One of countless genre films to retread Georges Franju's Eyes Without a Face, the premise here is virtually identical as a wackadoo surgeon kidnaps over half a dozen people in order to remove their eyes so that he can transplant them into his recently blinded daughter. That logically sound plan goes off exactly as you would expect and leads to a fittingly gruesome comeuppance for Richard Basehart's lead mad scientist. While Basehart's performance grows increasingly unhinged, he is presented as being several sandwiches short of a picnic from the opening scene, constantly muttering to himself and putting on a nonchalant, "I'm in complete control" facade almost until the finale. Supporting roles from Lance Henriksen and Gloria Grahame are fun, but the star of the show is Stan Winston's grisly makeup effects as numerous actors wear eyeless prosthetics that are in keeping with the exploitative, unwholesome tone. Too derivative to stand out, but it is well deserving of its video nasty reputation.
(1979)
Dir - E. W. Swackhamer
Overall: MEH1979 was ripe with movies that concerned the undead and the simply-titled Vampire was also one of several failed series pilots to find its way onto prime-time as a stand-alone feature. Veteran television director, (with one of the funniest names in the business), E.W. Swackhamer helmed a script that was co-authored by Steven Bochco, who would later create several notable TV shows, none of which came within miles of the horror genre. Cast wise though, there are many recognizable players such as Jason Miller, E.G. Marshall, Richard Lynch, and even Joe Spinell in a non-schlubby cameo. While it is agreeably made and the performers treat the material without any winks towards the audience, it is also bog-standard as far as vampire movies go. Lynch makes a menacing, suave presence as a centuries-old blood-sucker who has amassed a fortune in his long, otherworldly life, but once he is discovered by Miller and Marshall who decide to go all Van Helsing in tracking him down, there is little for Lynch to do besides take a backsteat to the proceedings and occasionally emerge to smugly deliver some threatening dialog. He of course rides off to do vampire things for another day, but the cliffhanger is hardly compelling enough for anyone to be jonesing for what happens next.
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