Moon In Scorpio (1987)

Having heard about this slasher movie from someone online (who shall remain nameless, and still someone with an opinion I value, but let's just say that they like this one a lot more than I did), I decided to blind buy Moon In Scorpio and add it to my list of scheduled horror viewings for this October. I'm easily pleased, a statement I know that I repeat far too often, and I was hoping for some standard horror movie thrills here. 

The very basic plot summary concerns a bunch of friends heading off on a boat trip. Allen (John Phillip Law) will be introducing his new wife, Linda (Britt Ekland), to his friends. Burt (William Smith) and Mark (Lewis Van Bergen) are fellow veterans, and all three men are bonded by their wartime and war crimes. Their partners, Claire (Jillian Kesner) and Isabel (April Wayne), are also on board. As is a killer. 

There is a germ of a good idea at the centre of this, a vengeful force attacking guilty parties who have spent a long time trying to repress memories of bad war times, both what they have gone through and what they did, while also being irrevocably changed by that experience. It could be argued that the most interesting parts of the script, written by Robert Aiken, don’t involve the supernatural/slasher element. There’s interesting fluctuating levels of tension as the group simply settle back into some kind of false friendship, perhaps having kept in touch with one another when some would have been better to just break away and move on.

Director Gary Graver tries, but fails, to make the most of his relatively small budget, some interference from an executive producer (apparently), and the problem of the setting and small core cast making it harder to line up a selection of likely suspects as the murders begin.

Ekland isn’t terrible in her role, but she is clearly picked to be the big name that could draw in viewers. Law and Van Bergen are both fine, even if they find themselves overpowered by the domineering presence of Smith, who is enjoyably unpleasant throughout. Kesner gets to act over the top as someone constantly drinking her way through the film, Wayne is a very pleasant addition to the visual aesthetics, and Robert Quarry is enjoyable enough in a couple of scenes that have him as a doctor interviewing Ekland about just what happened on the boat (no spoiler - the film begins with a hysterical Ekland being found).

While there’s enough here to help this stand out from the crowd of slashers that overwhelmed horror fans from the late 1970s through the 1980s, Moon In Scorpio is more interesting for what it hints at, rather than what it is. Nothing stands out, the visuals, score, effects, and production design are all competent (at best, some nice shots of the boat notwithstanding), and it’s only worth seeking out once you feel that you have exhausted the large selection of more enjoyable, or more interesting, films in this subgenre.

5/10

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Count Yorga, Vampire (1970)

Writer-director Bob Kelljan doesn't have too many movies to his credit. That's a shame, considering how good this one is. He also did the sequel, which I will be checking out soon, and the enjoyable, if inferior to the first, Scream, Blacula, Scream.

Robert Quarry plays Count Yorga, a mysterious and debonaire man who has moved to America from Bulgaria. Ingratiating himself with some locals, the Count also professes to have a talent for mediumship. This makes him interesting to Donna (Donna Anders), a young woman who would like to contact her dead mother. Things don't go according to plan for Donna, but maybe they do for Count Yorga, who starts to munch his way through her friends. He starts with Paul (Michael Murphy) and Erica (Judy Lang), attacking them when they get stuck in some mud after dropping him off back at his home, but looks forward to killing, or feeding off, all of them. Dr. James Hayes (Roger Perry) might be able to save them, or some of them. He's at least willing to eventually acknowledge that the problem could be vampirism.

Although there are one or two mis-steps here, including some narration from George Macready that unnecessarily sets up some of the rules of vampire lore, Count Yorga, Vampire is a bit of a minor classic in the crowded vampire movie sub-genre. It feels very much like a film poised between the traditional cinematic vampires of the past, many of whom were beautiful creatures until the fangs were bared, and the films that were more overtly exploring the sexual and sensual intimacy of mesmerising people and converting them with a bite on the neck. There are moments here that impress with their strange creepiness, be it a woman trying to drain blood from a kitten or a third act that mixes the usual vampire brides with moments of the head vampire toying with his prey.

Quarry is superb in the main role, as smooth and polite as expected when maintaining his air of civility, yet all too able to despatch his victims with all of the cool dispassion of someone prepping a microwavable ready meal. His casting is a major coup for Kelljan, who repays his lead with a script that serves him up a number of individual fantastic scenes, not least of which occurs when a group of people visit the Count at his home, trying to find some clue about the whereabouts of missing people while Yorga plays the perfect host. Perry is decent enough in his role, playing a character with enough courage to make up for the fact that he may be woefully unprepared to tackle the full reality of the situation, and Anders is very good as the woman manipulated by promise of being able to communicate with her dead mother. Edward Walsh is fun to watch as Brudah, a memorable manservant to the Count, and everyone else, from Murphy and Lang to Edward Walsh, Julie Conners, Paul Hansen, Sybil Scotford, and Marsha Jordan, puts in solid work.

HIGHLY recommended, especially to vampire movie fans (obviously), I'd even be tempted to put Count Yorga, Vampire up there with the very best of them. It's a contender for a place on any Top 10 list. Top 20, at the very least. If you have also been sleeping on this one for years, as I did, then change that as soon as possible. You won't regret it.

9/10

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Sugar Hill (1974)

When her boyfriend is murdered by a group of gangsters, the sexy and tough Sugar Hill (Marki Bey) intends to get her revenge. She enlists the help of Mama Maitresse (Zara Cully) and Baron Samedi (Don Pedro Colley), which leads to a number of problematic deaths for the gangsters. It's hard to think of Sugar as being the one responsible, but it's also harder to imagine that there might be zombies, and other voodoo practices, being used as particularly effective dispatchment methods. The deaths certainly stump a cop named Valentine (Richard Lawson), who also seems to carry a torch for Sugar, which is understandable.

Written by Tim Kelly, and directed by Paul Maslansky, Sugar Hill is a bit of a minor classic thanks to the way it successfully straddles both the horror genre and the blaxploitation boom of the '70s. Unlike some other attempts to blend the two (there have been many bad examples, and a few good ones), this gets everything just right in a way that will please fans of both movie types. There may be few actual scares, but each death is a fairly enjoyable set-piece, with viewers getting a real feel for the dread that the potential victims experience. As outlandish as the premise is, Kelly grounds the horror/supernatural elements in a standard blaxploitation environment that feels easily believable, albeit easily believable in a movie world way. Maslansky treats the script as a handy guideline, moving between the darker scenes into the bright, colourful moments that show Sugar going about her daily business.

Bey is great in the title role, touch and sexy and smart. She's someone that you root for, making the movie all the more satisfying as one death leads to another and another, until you know that there's only the head baddie (Robert Quarry) left to be dealt with. Speaking of Quarry, he's a very entertaining villain. Ruthless, cool, and always sending his men along to do work that saves him from getting his hands dirty. Betty Anne Rees makes a great impression as his partner, a woman who may now have lots of disposable income, but wouldn't ever buy a touch of class, even if it was in a half-price sale. Lawson also makes a great impression as the caring cop who just knows that something is wrong with the recent deaths he ends up investigating. Cully is suitably mystical and mysterious as Mama Maitresse, but Colley is the other big draw here, playing Baron Samedi as a powerful, sly, amused, magic man who likes to stay close enough to those who ask for his help and see how things pan out for their victims. He's a man-child, laughing at flies trapped in a spiderweb.

Cool, and also a bit kitsch nowadays, this isn't a film you necessarily want to spend too much time putting a label on. It's fun, first and foremost, and that's the main thing. If you haven't seen it yet, then be sure to bump it up the list of prioritised viewings. I'm glad that I did.

8/10

http://www.amazon.com/Sugar-Hill-1974-Marki-Bey/dp/B000CQCROE/ref=sr_1_3?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1412110707&sr=1-3&keywords=sugar+hill