BLOOD
OF GHASTLY HORROR (1972)Director: Al Adamson
Troma
BLOOD
OF GHASTLY HORROR (1972)This is a prime example of Al Adamson and Sam Sherman's knack for patchwork filmmaking. This was shot over a period of seven years, starting in 1964 with ECHO OF TERROR. Photographed by future Oscar winner Vilmos Zsigmond, this was Adamson's attempt at making a serious thriller. The film--featuring actor Roy Morton as a crazed jewel thief--couldn't be sold, so the director shot musical numbers and go-go dancing and the title was changed to PSYCHO A GO GO in 1965.
Several years later, Adamson filmed additional footage with John Carradine to make it more of horror picture. So now we are explained the reason behind Morton's lunatic behavior; with a construction helmet on his head, and strapped with car seat belts to an up-turned coffee table, Morton has a chip put into his bullet-lodged head by mad scientist Carradine. Years later, more footage involving former Disney and AIP star Tommy Kirk (as a police commissioner), Regina Carrol (as Carradine's daughter) and Kent Taylor (as another mad scientists getting revenge for his son's death) was shot to sell the film to TV as THE MAN WITH THE SYNTHETIC BRAIN.
The latter footage also has Taylor transforming Carrol into a mummified zombie, and you'll have no trouble telling the stuff shot in the 60s apart from the stuff shot in the 70s. If it doesn't sound like it makes any sense, it really doesn't. It's just pure schlock: "Bloody, ghastly and horrible." Although the film was sold to TV, Independent International still released it theatrically under BLOOD OF GHASTLY HORROR where it was a hit at the drive-ins, double-billed with Calvin Floyd's IN SEARCH OF DRACULA.
Troma's disc offers a full screen transfer of a film that was obviously shot widescreen, but its sorted history (and the fact that this version was really meant for TV) would lead us to disbelieve the existence of a proper transfer source. The original ECHO OF TERROR was in Technicolor, but the resulting BLOOD OF GHASTLY HORROR is in the Eastman process. The colors here look muted, dull and most of the dark scenes make for a muddy mess. The pan and scan framing can be very annoying, especially the 70s footage where Tommy Kirk is lucky if his sideburn manages to make it into view. Still, it's as good or better than the way it used to look on TV, the way most of us remember it.
This special edition DVD has a lot of nice extras, including a commentary and an on-camera introduction by Sam Sherman. Sherman gives us another great chat, and he actually excepts the blame for taking Adamson's once serious film and re-editing it into, well, what it is. Sherman also mentions his hopes of one day restoring the original ECHO OF TERROR, but unfortunately he claims that the prints that survived are in bad shape. According to Sherman, what makes the film enticing is the horror element, and having stars like Carradine in it. I tend to agree, as it would've probably been forgotten without its prolonged and fascinating history.
There is also a trailer, a TV teaser (with an "Allied Artists" copyright on it), the "Producing Schlock" documentary on Sam Sherman, and some really rare behind-the-scenes photos. Might I add, the packaging on these Al Adamson DVDs are really attractive, beckoning the outrageous days of the drive-in that we thrive so hard to keep alive at this Web site. Troma, please keep the films of Al Adamson and Independent International alive on DVD! (George R. Reis)