BLOOD OF GHASTLY HORROR (1973) *

 

Okay, so this is my third go-around with (almost) the same movie in a twenty-four-hour period.  It’s a bad sign when I’m only four movies into this Al Adamson box set and my brain is already turning into mush.

Speaking of mush-for-brains, Akro (Richard Smedley), a green-faced zombie, stumbles around on a killing spree.  He mails the head of a cop to detective Tommy Kirk (the ex-Disney star looks pretty out of it), who then relates flashbacks from Psycho a Go Go (and Fiend with the Electronic Brain).  We eventually learn Carradine’s daughter (played by Adamson’s wife, Regina Carrol) is being targeted by another mad scientist (Kent Taylor) who commands Akro, his zombie servant to abduct her.  It’s then up to Kirk to rescue her before Kent can make her into his latest experiment.    

The make-up on the zombie is pathetic.  I mean it looks like they just slapped Play-Doh over his eye, painted him green, and mussed his hair and called it a day.  Your little sister could do a better job.  He does rack up a decent body count in his limited screen time though. 

At least there’s more original footage here than there was in Fiend with the Electronic Brain.  (About thirty-five minutes in all.)  Unfortunately, it’s cheap looking, dull, and indifferently edited.  The finale is particularly lame.  Not only is Carrol’s transformation scene hokey, she also calls Akro “Arko”, which is pretty funny.  Oh, and this time out, “Christy” the blackface doll isn’t billed in the credits.

Too bad we still have stomach about fifty minutes of Psycho a Go Go and Fiend with the Electronic Brain in the form of flashbacks.  If you thought the boring-ass diamond heist plotline was dreary the first time around, let me tell you, it’s downright coma-inducing the third time.  It’s puzzling to me that Adamson was so confident in this weak material that he would try to repackage it time and time again in hopes of it finally working.  I guess I admire his persistence, but he really should’ve moved on and tried to do something new instead of spending so many years trying to polish (and re-polish) this turd. 

 

As a bonus, I dusted off an archival review of Blood of Ghastly Horror I wrote on my old site.  Even though it was posted in 2007, it’s quite possible I wrote it earlier than that.  I can’t remember.  Heck, I don’t even remember writing the review.  I must’ve REALLY hated it back then to give it NO STARS at the time.  I’ve only made some minor corrections here and there, but this is how it originally appeared thirteen years ago:

BLOOD OF GHASTLY HORROR  (1973)  NO STARS

Director Al Adamson has done all kinds of B Movies: biker movies (Satan’s Sadists), blaxploitation (Black Samurai), and softcore sex (The Naughty Stewardesses) just to name a few.  This mess is the worst Adamson film I’ve ever seen (so far).  It’s actually three Adamson movies edited into one.  It’s one part heist movie, one part Frankenstein rip-off and another part zombie movie. 

Here’s the plot.  See if you can stay with me:  A zombie rips a man’s head off.  He MAILS it to cop Tommy (Catalina Caper!) Kirk (!!!) who tells a story about a robbery.  One of the thieves, Joe gets killed and mad scientist John Carradine gives him an electronic brain and brings him back to life.  Joe kills a woman and then blows up Carradine!  Joe’s father, a doctor in Jamaica, uses Akro the zombie to kidnap Carradine’s daughter, and plans to turn her into a zombie to get revenge.  Then Kirk tells another story of a botched heist Joe did, but the editing, lighting, and acting are so bad, I’m not even sure what the hell happened in that scene!  In the finale, the doctor changes her into a zombie and when the jealous Akro kills him, she turns back to normal.  The End.  Wow. 

You’ll have an ice cream headache for three days after watching this movie.  Also starring the director’s wife, Regina Carrol.  Adamson also did Blood of Dracula’s Castle. 

AKA:  Psycho A Go-Go.  AKA: Man with the Synthetic Brain.  AKA:  The Love Maniac.