“The Being” 1983
Radio Blue Heart presents TALES FROM THE PUBLIC DOMAIN!
Episode 70: The Brain That Wouldn’t Die!
A variation on the Frankenstein theme with a surgeon experimenting with limb and organ transplantation without rejection. He gets the chance to really put his technique to the test when his fiance is decapitated in a car crash. Keeping her head alive artificially, he begins the search to find her a new body, Even if he has to harvest one! Seeing the extreme measures that he is going through to keep her alive and restore her, the resentful Jan forges a alliance with a hideous mutant John keeps locked in the closet. Another result of his experiments.
Famous from late night television showing, drive-ins and of course Mystery Science Theater 3000, this film became a cult classic and was the inspiration for Frank Henelotter’s “Frankenhooker”. It was notable, even though it was black and white, for being quite bloody for an early 60′s film
Radio Blue Heart presents TALES FROM THE PUBLIC DOMAIN!
Episode 24: Mutant! (aka Night Shadows)
Bad but interesting entry in the zombie genre. This film began life as a script that ripped off Stephen King’s “The Stand” and eventually evolved in what you see here… The best they could do.
The film focuses on two brothers driving through rural Georgia. They get stranded in a small town when some rednecks they offended run them off the road. It becomes clear that the town is hiding something. That something is that a chemical manufacturing corporation has been dumping toxic waste down a mine shaft and it is leaking into the local water supply, mutating the locals into zombie-like creatures that spew acidic goo and suck blood.
This movie is bad but it should keep you entertained. It was directed by John “Bud” Cardos who directed other cult B-movies like “Kingdom of the Spiders” and “The Dark”. Dick Clark was a producer on the film though he was uncredited. An unofficial sequel was made called “Alien Predators” in 1987 and a loose remake called “Nightmare at Noon” with some of the same cast.
The film also boasts an awesome score by Richard Band.
Once again this film is PUBLIC DOMAIN and not copyright protected in the US at least. You can make and sell your own DVD of it, download it, show it for free or for profit. Or remix it or use it for stock footage
“Ticks” from 1993. Also known as “Infested” and “C2”.
A group of troubled inner city youths, including Seth Green and Alfonso Ribeiro (aka Carlton from “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”) are taken to a camping retreat to deal with their various problems. Little do they know that some local marijuana growers are trying to increase their crop with herbal steroids. The steroids also cause ticks that inhabit the plants to grow to tremendous size and start attacking humans! They are not just parasites any more!
Features awesome chunk blowing creature and gore effects and laundry list of cult stars.
“The Strangeness”
This is a really awesome low budget horror film from 1985. I first read about it in the book “Nightmare USA”, a book about independent horror filmmaking in the US. I was intrigued and sought it out. Luckily it was posted on youtube.
It is about a group of people hired to access the condition of an old gold mine to see if it can be reopened.
The mine was sealed and abandoned in the late 1800s when after breaking through to a natural cavern system, something started killing the miners.
Once inside, the group is trapped by a cave in that seals the entrance and must go deeper into the mine to get around the blockage. But they soon come across the cause of the deaths of so many miners. The deep shadows of the mine are home to a tentacled, flesh-eating monster!
Despite being shot on a budget of $25,000 this film has really great atmosphere, some genuinely creepy moments and a gnarly stop-motion animated monster! Check it out!
