The Scene of Screen 13

A exploration into Exploitation, Horror Movies, B-Movie Bonanzas, Wild Art Films, Freak Flicks, and other assorted madness from The 50’s to 1989

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SCREEN 13

US promotion for Lucio Fulci’s The Psychic 4-27-79, Detroit 3-9-79, Albany, GA

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10-19-73, Waco - THE BABY, THE DEATH WHEELERS (PSYCHOMANIA), and HORROR EXPRESS play the Joy Drive In. The trip of films was presented by Scotia International, a small company in the Early 70′s that tried to break through with some unique films. These were later sold to TV and Public Domain VHS before their recent restorations.  9-7-73, Fort Worth - Another Texas ad for PSYCHOMANIA under the name THE DEATH WHEELERS plays the Fort Worth area including the Forum 6 Theatre and Arlington Drive In. 

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Feb. 8, 1973, San Francisco area - LOVE ME DEADLY at the Crest Theatre and the Mission Drive In with BLUEBEARD.  Oakland area Drive Ins also carried the film with an ad that gave it the ROSEMARY’S BABY hype treatment. 

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This is a re-introduction of sorts - Things have been going well although many things have changed over the years since I last posted on here. More to come - take care!

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Photography and image manipulation by Screen 13

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Swedish Swingers - So much of it’s time, but sadly lost out of time. Still, the ad was great!  11-22-74, Akron 9-4-74, Detroit 5-16-80, Anniston

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A rare use of the full effective ad for Legend of the Wolf Woman!  6-3-77. Brownsvile, TX

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Delirium was the Italian-Made shocker starring Mickey Hargitay as the Criminal Psychologist going mad and murderous. Although receiving a rating in the US around 1972, this film had very few plays Stateside, some of them in the Mid-Late 70′s. Renato Poselli (Reincarnation of Isabel - also with Hargitay) was the Director 12-11-76, Abilene, Texas 3-4-77, Anniston, Alabama 6-14-75, Panama City, FLA

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Wanda, the Wicked Warden was AKA Greta, the Mad Butcher and Ilsa, the Wicked Warden. Dyanne Thorne stars as the sadistic warden of a hospital for sexual deviants that’s rumored to be part of a snuff film operation while the lovely Lina Romay so-stars as one of the prisoners. Tanya Busseler co-stars as someone who fakes her way to see what happened to her sister.  This was a number of Women in Prison films Directed by Jess Franco, who works up a very serious and sordid style with this film. Romay was with the legendary Director from the Early 70′s, appearing in a number of films.  This had a very here-and-there distribution in the US, playing where there was room for it through at least 1979 to 1981. It made a stop in Detroit, 12-12-80

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Lynn Lowery as the murderous mute hippie cult member in I Drink Your Blood working her magic with bad special effects.  12-1-71, Detroit (Way long after it’s first premiere, but at least it got it!)

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Bram Stoker’s Count Dracula was the ill-fated production Directed by Jess Franco who had to deal with a very low budget, but had some great actors to work with including Christopher Lee. The legendary actor was aiming to do a version of the classic story as it was written while working with Franco on two Fu Manchu films, The Bloody Judge, and some scenes for Eugenie, and it’s possible that while working on Bloody Judge that the two considered to give it a try. The results were mixed, but the first half includes some of the best photography in Franco’s history. It’s US Distribution was a sad affair. Planned to be with the mighty AIP, of which some of Franco’s work of the time was connected to, it was later picked by a small New York City based company called Crystal Films, who did next to nothing except to possibly get a sale to TV.. By the Mid-70′s, it was Distributed through World Entertainment, who paired it with Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors, an Amicus film from 1965 also starring Lee.  10-31-75, Nampa, Idaho 3-26-76, West Palm Beach 1-20-75, Bridgeport at the Candlelite/Pix Twin Drive In. 

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Count Dracula’s Great Love starring Horror legend Paul Naschy and The Vampire’s Night Orgy with Helga Line was a program of two sexy Horror films from Europe released in The US through International Amusements, based in North Carolina!  Both were picked up in the Late 70′s through MPM under different titles and campaigns and for a long time they were part of cheap DVD sets, but they are far better than what one may think.    11-1-74, Louisville 5-17-74, Pittsburgh 4-24-70, San Antonio 3-22-75 - Part of this classic Shock Show at the Tar Heel Drive In

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Girl on a Motorcycle might have been Youth Culture Art, but in the end it was all about the Marianne in the jumpsuit! A woman torn between two lovers, one her music teacher husband and the other a motorcycle riding romeo, is in serious conflict while trying to live a life of sexy rebellion away from the “normal” living she was accustomed to. Cur to a lot of scenes with the legendary singer in her Sexy Mod peak straddling a motorcycle perched on the back of a flatbed truck and in front of wonderfully photographed scenery. Released by Warner Brothers under it;s Claridge sub-division, it was one of the first films to be rated X, mainly for a few shots of Marianne’s breasts and the psychedelic circus dream at the start, this faced some slight cuts for an R rating under it’s re-title of Naked Under Leather. 11-7-68, Hollywood  11-15-68, Hollywood 11-28-68, Hollywood - Wonder how well it actually did in this limited engagement. By the time the film was re-issued, Faithfull was in a troubled time sparked by drug addiction and her split with boyfriend Mick Jagger. Later that year, she would record tracks which turned into the Rich Kid Blues album released by many companies from the Late 70′s on capitalizing on her comeback thanks to “Dreaming My Dreams” and most importantly the Broken English album. Most of these showings were true to form at the Drive Ins. 5-29-70, Colorado Springs 5-6-70, Long Beach 5-8-70, San Bernardino 6-12-70, Toledo 9-18-70, Pottstown, PA (with another Claridge release, The Fox) 6-3-70, Detroit

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Space Thing! It’s cheap, sexy, sleazy, stupid, and even stylish. Producer David F. Friedman may have dismissed it, but fans of campy Nudie Films of The 60′s keep coming back to it. The slim story is this - a man dreams of being an alien on a spaceship led by “Captain Mother” and filled with a bunch of beautiful women and some ugly dudes. Throw in some plastic garbage cans used as seats for the dinner table, a model spaceship that looks like the USS Enterprise, some cheap asteroids, and a desert used as a “planet” so that the girls can lounge around topless, and you pretty much have the film - a work of genius...in a Something Weird way, of course! The lovely blonde in some of the later ads was Merci Mee, in real life Mercy Montello.  9-20-68 - Pussycat Theaters, California opening. 11-22-68 and 11-29-68, Tuscon with two different ads. 10-20-68, Danville, VA - The South Drive In was the Exploitation hot spot in the area 9-5-69, Greely, CO - This pairing showed it with the popular Roman Polanski comedy starring Sharon Tate who sadly was murdered a month before. For some reason, the theater decided to throw in some editorial comment on the vampire in The Fearless Vampire Killers.  11-22-68, Akron at the Astor with Joe Sarno’s Red Roses of Passion 3-19-69, Detroit area at three theaters, a common practice in the city’s Adult business which saw a program at least play two, The Hi-Land was named after it’s location in Highland Park.  10-9-77, El Paso - You read the date correct! Space Thing played for years as a second and last run film mainly due to the exhibitors wanting to play it. It’s cheap thrills entertained the Adult movie fans even in the age of Porn!

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Cannibal Holocaust in Claymont, Delaware, 9-19-86. One year after it played New York City, the controversial CH turned into a film that was only talked about by those in the know. The appearance in Delaware was a surprise find, but the most WTF thing about it was that it was at the Eric Tri-State Mall 5! At that time, many theaters were weeding out the Indie Exploitation, especially the Mall theaters that were showing major films. Those in the area looking for dark and twisted films had their weekend planned out as David Lynch’s excellent Blue Velvet, then a very new film that was a major conversation in the cinema world, also played in the area at the Eric Concordville 4!

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Hare’s a couple more photos before I move on to the next movie. I rarely do this, but the audience needs to know who’s behind the madness. Of course, shaving the Miami Vice look off was needed, too!

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To those wondering who’s the one posting up these wild and wonderful ads, I think it’s a perfect time to introduce myself. One look at the DVDs should show that I actually love the movies I write about, or at least have a serious interest in what I have yet to see. I won’t go on for too long with the intro, but I hope that this will do well.