TRAILERS #7: HORROR AND SCI-FI OF THE ‘50S, ‘60S, AND ‘70S (1992) *** ½

Trailers #7:  Horror and Sci-Fi of the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s is one of the better compilations in the Something Weird trailer series.  Since the ‘70s get some love this time around, that means there’s a healthy amount of color trailers to be found.  This is a nice change of pace after so many predominantly black and white collections.  Among the ‘70s classics collected here are Halloween, Dawn of the Dead, and The Exorcist.  There are also some ‘80s trailers like The Shining, Mother’s Day, and even The Empire Strikes Back (narrated by an exuberant Harrison Ford) tossed in there for good measure. 

Some of my favorites were for Fiend Without a Face, Barbarella (“See Barbarella Do Her Thing!”), and Hollywood Boulevard.  Other highlights include Blood Beast from Outer Space (“Space Creatures Snatch Girls to Mysterious Planets!”), The Omega Man, a television spot for the made for TV flick Killdozer, a double feature of The War of the Gargantuas and Monster Zero, Cut-Throats Nine (in which patrons are given a “Terror Mask”), and a double feature of The Black Belly of the Tarantula and The Weekend Murders (“The Whodunit and the What-Did-It?”)  I was also happy to see director Ishiro Honda’s work well-represented as there are trailers for The Human Vapor (“Is He Man or Astro-Man?”), Latitude Zero, and Godzilla. 

I’ve seen the first six collections in the series and all of them have been rather tame, so it was a breath of fresh air to get some sleazy shit like Venom (“Originally Banned in Denmark Itself!”) and Ilsa She-Wolf of the SS in the mix.  It was also a nice surprise to see a couple of Doris Wishman trailers (Let Me Die a Woman and A Taste of Flesh) in there as well.  The last half-hour or so is particularly fun as it is chockful of short and sweet TV spots that come at a fast and furious clip. 

In addition to the great trailers, there are also plenty of spookshow ads, concession stand commercials, coming attraction snipes, and theater ads.  My favorite was an anti-juvenile delinquent ad asking patrons not to cut up the theater seats and advising them to help “keep youngsters in line”.  Repeat trailers from other volumes (Children of the Damned, The Monster That Challenged the World, and Squirm) are also kept to a minimum, which certainly helps cement #7’s status as one of Something Weird’s best collections. 

The complete trailer round-up is as follows:  A spookshow ad, a double feature of The Thing from Another World and The Man Who Turned to Stone, Fiend Without a Face, Barbarella, Rodan, Blood Beast from Outer Space, The Giant Gila Monster, The Alligator People, Curse of the Fly, concession stand ad, Children of the Damned, an anti-juvenile delinquent ad, The Gamma People, The Day of the Triffids, Attack of the Crab Monsters, The Human Vapor, Target Earth, Varan the Unbelievable, The Creeping Unknown, The Omega Man, 20 Million Miles to Earth, Latitude Zero, Unknown Terror, The Monster That Challenged the World, The Andromeda Strain, Monster from Green Hell, Five, First Men in the Moon, This Island Earth, The Invisible Ray, Forbidden Planet, Godzilla: King of the Monsters!, Midnight, The Shining, It's Alive, The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane, Halloween, Dawn of the Dead, Killdozer, The Empire Strikes Back, The Rats Are Coming! The Werewolves Are Here!, Squirm, Hollywood Boulevard, Let Me Die a Woman, a double feature of The War of the Gargantuas and Monster Zero, Cut-Throats Nine, Frankenstein's Bloody Terror, The Cars That Eat People, A Taste of Flesh, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, Venom, Don't Go in the House, Mother's Day, Caveman, Dracula's Dog, War Goddess, The Night Child, Satan's Cheerleaders, The Exorcist, Goliathon (AKA:  The Mighty Peking Man), My Bloody Valentine, a double feature of Black Belly of the Tarantula and The Weekend Murders, Man from the Deep River, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Fury, Horror of the Blood Monsters, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, Beyond the Door, a double feature of Beyond the Door II and The Dark, One Million Years B.C., Berserk!, Bug, Phase IV, a double feature of Blood from the Mummy's Tomb and Night of the Blood Monster, Silent Night, Evil Night (AKA:  Black Christmas), and Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS.