(1971)
Dir - Sutton Roley
Overall: MEH
It makes sense that such a mediocre and mildly atmospheric television film would inspire an equally humdrum series the following year, the ABC Movie of the Week Sweet, Sweet Rachel serving as the genesis for The Sixth Sense. None of the actors here would appear in the aforementioned Gary Collins-stared program as the same characters, Alex Drier instead portraying the concerned parapsychologist who interjects himself in the affairs of a woman that is going through extrasensory torment, (Stefanie Powers, who would also show up the following series as two different ladies). It is the exact same framework utilized in The Sixth Sense, and Drier is just as charisma-deficient as Collins would prove to be. His serious portrayal matches the film's humorless agenda though, as Drier uncovers the culprit behind such psychic attacks without enjoying himself for one solitary second along the way. This lack of merriment translates to the audience who are merely treated to a series of talky and repetitive non-set pieces until a lackluster finish reveals all. Director Sutton Roley leans into some horror imagery here or there, but the strict tone would have benefited from more colorful performances, a chuckle here or there, and a more interesting plot.
(1973)
Dir - Denis Sanders
Overall: MEH
Overall: MEH
Doubling as the first film to be scripted by Nicholas Meyer and the last to be directed by Denis Sanders, Invasion of the Bee Girls, (Graveyard Tramps), is softcore, feminist slasher, B-movie sleaze with a deadly sci-fi angle thrown in. It is silly business that keeps its tongue in cheek, given a sobering approach by Sanders despite its exploitative nature and absurd premise of Anita Ford's bra-less female scientist using radiation to turn women into physical embodiments of queen bees. She does this because reasons, and there is plenty of nudity and moments where horned-up men think that they are getting lucky, only to die in the throws of ecstasy as the police and William Smith's Department of Security officer try to uncover the nefarious plot. The film drags at regular intervals, mostly because the audience is clued in on what is happening before the characters are, rendering Smith's investigation tactics as droll, despite his agreeable amount of well-tanned charisma in front of the lens. Throw in some mild lesbianism, sexually-empowered women whose eyes go eerily black when fully charged, a colorful laboratory where a bee sting, a plaster encasing, and a trip into an enclosed chamber produce full glamorous makeovers, and a literally explosive finale where fog-machines erupt and the sinister choral music score sours, and there is still probably enough here for schlock purists to enjoy.
(1976)
Dir - Jeff Lieberman
Overall: MEH
Benefited by a fantastic poster from Drew Struzan as well as some of Rick Baker's earliest prosthetic makeup effects, Squirm is otherwise a sluggish and occasionally grating bit of nature horror. The premise is self-explanatory, pitting a country bumpkin town up against thousands of super-charged earthworms after an electrical storm renders most people void of their go-to conveniences. This makes it impossible to contact the outside world for help, but also provides the perfect excuse for the lights to be off and for the showers to fill up with screaming bugs instead of water. Which is to say that oh yes, the earthworms do in fact scream in a comical fashion, but there is a flimsy concept tossed off that electricity has mutated them so sure, why not have that be something which gives them screeching vocal chords? As the title promises, there are some squeamish set pieces where people get devoured by the creepy crawlies which start to pour of of buildings and cover the floors like tons of mobile spaghetti. Baker's work on R. A. Dow, turning him into a zombie-like worm-face is as impressive as ever, but viewers will have to sit through forty-five minutes of actors with terrible hillbilly accents going about their business to get to the good icky stuff. None of the characters are interesting, and most are not even borderline likeable, making this a chore to endure until the last twenty-five minutes kicks up the squishy mayhem.
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