(1962)
Dir - Arch Hall Sr.
Overall: WOOF
Truly deserving its place in the annals of wretched celluloid, Eegah, (Eegah!, Eegah: The Name Written in Blood), is a bafflingly inept Z-grade bit of lunacy that can only be seen to be believed for the rarest of bad movie fans with the will power to sustain it. Part vanity project, part nepotism hack-job, part zero effort/drive-in cash-grab, this would mercifully be the only directorial work from actor-turned producer Arch Hall Sr, who designed it as a starring vehicle for his embarrassingly untalented son Arch Hall Jr.. The story is too asinine to mention, but it is loaded with nonsensical editing, ADRed dialog that does not come within light years of any of the actor's mouth movements, aggressively bad cinematography, musical numbers that will make you hate all music, a head-scratching scene where Richard Kiel's title caveman laps up shaving cream, and all of the comatose-inducing pacing that clueless filmmaking has to offer. To be fair, there are a handful of "What the hell am I watching?" nonsense to warrant this as a curiosity for the cinephile who is also a glutton for punishment, but it is also unacceptable trash that will never give you such an unforgiving ninety-two minutes of your life back.
(1968)
Dir - Byron Haskin
Overall: MEH
The final directorial effort from Byron Haskin, The Power takes a tension-mounting approach to its psychological sci-fi ideas, yet it fails as a mystery due to the fact that said mystery never becomes engaging. An adaptation of Frank M. Robinson's 1956 novel of the same name that adheres to the basic plot while changing most of the character's names and several inconsequential details, it fits snugly in with other "man on the run" thrillers and the preposterously-tanned George Hamilton, (though stiff at times), still has enough movie star charisma to be such a running man. For genre fans, Michael Rennie, Richard Carlson, and Yvonne De Carlo are the most recognizable bit players here, but the only thing of interest are some flashy hallucination sequences that give it a quasi-psychedelic and therefor dated charm. Unfortunately, these moments are scattered throughout a pedestrian series of events as Hamilton tries to uncover whoever "the Power" is, meaning someone with telekinetic abilities who is able to hide their identity until the very last moments. The twist on top of a twist is predictable for anyone that is paying attention, but the film is colorful and flashy enough in fits and starts to have some merit.
(1969)
Dir - Bernard Girard
Overall: MEH
An adaptation of the play Ladies in Retirement, (which had also been cinematically made in 1941 under the same title), The Mad Room is significant for kick-starting a run of horror thrillers to star Shelley Winters, though this does not specifically qualify as one of the actor's psycho-biddy offerings. Instead, it concerns a set of siblings who have spent the better part of their later childhood in a mental institution after being accused of murdering their parents, even if the specific culprit between the two has never been discovered. Enter Stella Stevens as the older sister to both of them who takes on the legal guardian role once the children have reached their late teens. Simultaneously melodramatic and dull, the contemporary reworking of the material manages to shoehorn in a mild interracial romance and an African American doctor to break up the exclusively Caucasian cast, but the story itself meanders with little agency. While the murder that kicks in the final act is both abrupt and the first exciting thing to happen, the later twist and closing set piece is far from riveting and delivered with more of a "Sure, I guess we'll just go with that" type of energy. Also, they kill a dog so fuck this movie.
Dir - Bernard Girard
Overall: MEH
An adaptation of the play Ladies in Retirement, (which had also been cinematically made in 1941 under the same title), The Mad Room is significant for kick-starting a run of horror thrillers to star Shelley Winters, though this does not specifically qualify as one of the actor's psycho-biddy offerings. Instead, it concerns a set of siblings who have spent the better part of their later childhood in a mental institution after being accused of murdering their parents, even if the specific culprit between the two has never been discovered. Enter Stella Stevens as the older sister to both of them who takes on the legal guardian role once the children have reached their late teens. Simultaneously melodramatic and dull, the contemporary reworking of the material manages to shoehorn in a mild interracial romance and an African American doctor to break up the exclusively Caucasian cast, but the story itself meanders with little agency. While the murder that kicks in the final act is both abrupt and the first exciting thing to happen, the later twist and closing set piece is far from riveting and delivered with more of a "Sure, I guess we'll just go with that" type of energy. Also, they kill a dog so fuck this movie.
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