Curtis Harrington
Surrounded by fans and skeptics, grizzled director J.J. "Jake" Hannaford returns from years abroad in Europe to a changed Hollywood, where he attempts to make his innovative comeback film.
This is the second volume of ultra-rare oddities, obscurities and jaw-droppers that may be among the best 85 minutes Something Weird has ever assembled and almost all of them from the original negatives! Titles include The Martians (1962), Tops ‘n Tunes (1964), Swinger (1966), Slumber Party (196?), Chemical Pop (196?), The Assignation (1963), A Christmas Fantasy (196?), Woton’s Wake (1964) and some newly-discovered trailers for live midnight shows.
Profile of the late iconoclastic director Curtis Harrington, featuring images from many of his poetic and haunting films.
A young, wisdom-seeking writer arrives at the home of the elderly poet Roderick Usher and his cataleptic sister, Madeline. As the writer becomes increasingly uncomfortable with Roderick's weirdness and Madeline's growing decrepitude, the film moves toward its macabre conclusion with old-fashioned stateliness.
A documentary from Universal about the movie The Invisible Man (1933) directed by James Whale.
Larry Wessel presents darkest Hollywood and explores some of tinsel town's most grisly tragedies, including the murders of Sharon Tate and The Black Dahlia.
Written, co-produced and co-directed by David J. Skal, THE WORLD OF GODS AND MONSTERS is a behind-the scenes chronicle of the making of the 1998 Academy Award-winning film GODS AND MONSTERS starring Ian McKellen, Brendan Fraser and Lynn Redgrave. Narrated by author/ filmmaker Clive Barker, the documentary interweaves the life and career of James Whale, director of the original FRANKENSTEIN, with the making of the acclaimed biopic. Interviewees include writer/director Bill Condon (Oscar winner for best adapted screenplay), Ian McKellen, Brendan Fraser, Lynn Redgrave, and Christopher Bram, author of the novel FATHER OF FRANKENSTEIN, on which the film was based.
Universal Horror is a documentary about the era of classic monster movies that were made at Universal Studios during the 1930's and 1940's.
Horror documentary with interviews to William Friedkin, Stan Winston, John McNaughton, Tom Holland and Ridley Scott.
"Working with Orson Welles" is a low-budget production put together by Gary Graver, who worked as a cameraman for Welles in the last 15 years of his life.
In interviews, various actors and directors discuss their careers and their involvement in the making of what has come to be known as "cult" films. Included are such well-known genre figures as Russ Meyer, Curtis Harrington, Cameron Mitchell and James Karen.
The first revival of Rod Serling's acclaimed 1950/60s television series of the same name.
Based loosely on the real-life story of the World War I spy. The exotic dancer uses her contacts in European high society, along with her seductive charm, to collect military secrets during the war. She successfully plays both sides against each other until at last her deceptions catch up with her.
Darkroom is an American television thriller series which ABC transmitted from November 27, 1981 to January 15, 1982. It was an anthology horror/thriller series, similar in style to Rod Serling's Night Gallery. Each 60-minute episode featured two or more stories of varying length with a new story and a new cast, but each of the episode wraparound segments was hosted by James Coburn. Among the performers who appeared on the series were Steve Allen, Esther Rolle, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, David Carradine, Billy Crystal, and June Lockhart.
A dog that is a minion of Satan terrorizes a suburban family.
Lucan is a TV Drama which aired on ABC from 1977 to 1978, starring Kevin Brophy, John Randolph, and Don Gordon. A 20-year old man who spent the first 10 years of his life running wild in the forest after being raised by wolves, Lucan is taken to a research institute and taught the ways of human society. He is befriended by a kind research doctor whom he bonded with during his journey to civilization. Lucan's continued freedom at the research center is put in peril once his doctor friend and mentor is hurt. Unable to insure Lucan's well being at the institute, his friend encourages him to strike out on his own in search of his identity. The short-lived TV series chronicled the encounters, challenges, and intrigues Lucan faced interacting with people using his new learned social graces and old Wolfen instincts. Lucan did have special Wolfen skills that were invoked when he was made very angry. When upset to the point of violence his eyes glowed amber. He also had heightened senses of smell and hearing. In a few episodes he was able to call on his old wolf family/pack for help. This series was based on a 1977 made-for-TV movie of the same name directed by David Greene.
In the 1930s, a sailor trying to prove that his brother was wrongly executed for murder finds himself becoming drawn into the occult world.
A strong-willed woman not only dominates her family of California winegrowers, but also has a strange hold on a colony of bees in her vineyard.
Young Terry Lambert returns home from serving a prison term for a gang-rape he was forced to participate in. He seeks revenge on his lawyer and the girl who framed him. But his real problem is his overbearing mother, whose boarding house he resides in and who keeps bringing him glasses of chocolate milk. One of her boarders, Lori, becomes attracted to him. However, while he was serving his prison sentence, Terry developed an interest in rough, violent sex, and gory death. Now, one by one, some of the town's women pop up dead.
When a rich man dies, some items from a collection of his are stolen- an ancient Egyptian gold amulet and the mummy that was wearing it. The police consult scholars from the local University to help with the investigation, which is taking a more serious turn as people connected with the case are killed by wounds that seem to be from a housecat.
Two middle-aged women move to Hollywood, California after their sons are convicted of a notorious murder and open a dance school for children eager to tap their way to stardom.
A demented widow lures unsuspecting children into her mansion in a bizarre "Hansel and Gretel" twist.
After an eight-month stay in a mental hospital, a tormented man comes home to live with his sister; but a mysterious boarder may be trying to kill him.
An educational film about power sources that’s rendered as a lyrical meditation on heat and vapor, The Four Elements is a poetic and avant-garde documentary Curtis Harrington made for the United States Information Agency.
A spaceship is sent to Mars after a alien distress signal is picked up. They find one survivor, but when a crew member is found drained of blood it's evident they have rescued a bloodsucking monster.
In 2020, after the colonization of the moon, the spaceships Vega, Sirius and Capella are launched from Lunar Station 7. They are to explore Venus under the command of Professor Hartman, but an asteroid collides and explodes Capella. The leader ship Vega stays orbiting and sends the astronauts Kern and Sherman with the robot John to the surface of Venus, but they have problems with communication with Dr. Marsha Evans in Vega. The Sirius lands in Venus and Commander Brendan Lockhart, Andre Ferneau and Hans Walter explore the planet and are attacked by prehistoric animals. They use a vehicle to seek Kern and Sherman while collecting samples from the planet. Meanwhile John helps the two cosmonauts to survive in the hostile land.
The Legend of Jesse James is an American western series starring Christopher Jones in the tile role of notorious outlaw Jesse James. The series aired on ABC from September 13, 1965, to May 9, 1966. Allen Case joined Jones as Jesse's brother, Frank James.
A sailor falls in love with a carnival-girl, despite warnings that she is a "jinx" who has brought about the deaths of two previous suitors.
An aging former movie starlet whose Hollywood career went nowhere, now reduced to dancing with a third-rate touring show, finds herself stranded in a small town where she's courted by an infatuated and naive local teenager.
Residents of the small town of Peyton Place aren't pleased when they realize they're the characters in local writer Allison MacKenzie's controversial first novel. A sequel to the hit 1957 film.
A military school cadet romances a visiting French actress during Mardi Gras. With songs, kissing and New Orleans locations.
Lord Shiva wakes. A convocation of magicians in the guise of figures from mythology; a masquerade party at which Pan is the prize. The wine of Hecate is poured: Pan's cup is poisoned by Shiva. Kali blesses the assembly as a bacchic rite ensues.
Long considered lost, The Assignation was Curtis Harrington's first color film. It was shot in Venice, Italy, and follows a masked figure through the labyrinthine canals of the city, building to a spectacular climax.
In this fragile yet frightening poetic fantasy set against a dark industrial landscape, Curtis Harrington casts his own mother and father in lead roles.
Puce Moment is a short 6 minute film by Kenneth Anger, author of the Hollywood Babylon books, filmed in 1949. Puce Moment resulted from the unfinished short film Puce Women. The film opens with a camera watching 1920s style flapper gowns being taken off a dress rack. The dresses are removed and danced off the rack to music. (The original soundtrack was Verdi opera music; in the 1960s, Anger re-released the film with a new psychedelic folk-rock soundtrack performed by Jonathan Halper.) A long-lashed woman, Yvonne Marquis, dresses in the purple puce gown and walks to her vanity to apply perfume. She lies on a chaise lounge which then begins to move around the room and eventually out to a patio. Borzois appear and she prepares to take them for a walk.
Harrington plays a young man desperately seeking out the fleeting image of a female companion, and though he never quite catches her, he discovers much more through the surreal explorations of his own sexuality.
Curtis Harrington's student film based on E.A. Poe's story.
